


Ibi Veneficas (There Be Witches)

by Number_Nines_Melody



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: But right now Imma be real with you it's just introduction and Riku being gay, Even though Sora is also flirting with Riku, Ibi Veneficas, Ibi Veneficas (There Be Witches), In which Riku is really gay and Sora is totally oblivious, M/M, Magic, Magical Realism, More tags will probably be added later when something exciting happens, These two are a mess someone get them some help pls and thanks, Witchcraft, like usual, there be witches, which I guess can be kinda cool if ur down for Riku being a flustered mess any time Sora smiles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-06-10 20:16:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15299220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Number_Nines_Melody/pseuds/Number_Nines_Melody
Summary: Maybe tripping on a tree root in a stranger's backyard while doing something illegal was a good thing, after all.





	1. A Sprained Ankle and The Kooky Brunet

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks for giving this a click and a quick check out! This is my first fanfiction posted here, so I'm really excited to be doing this! I hope you all really like it! :heart:

      Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to go out at night. Now that he thought about it, perhaps he, and his group of friends, shouldn’t have been going anywhere this late at night. The time was currently around midnight, and the bobbing of flashlights in unison were spread around the massive back road, whispering and sometimes laughing as they walked down the street. One light in particular was bobbing faster, leading the group of the boys, who stopped when they finally made it to their destination. It wasn’t a random plot of land where kids could smoke weed, no, but it was an occupied house, which was occupied by what the people around the neighborhood called “the mysterious witch”.

      Not much was known about this witch. It was hard to tell when they were home or when they weren’t, and they hardly seemed to leave the house. The only hint of there being a person living in there were the lights in the house that continued to go on and off, and a wandering cat around the yard. The windows were always too hazy and it was hard to tell what was going on inside there. Their house was overgrown with ivy, which crawled up the house and around the yard, and the house did look pretty worn down from the outside. It was almost a wonder that the place didn’t have a single shingle missing from its siding, let alone collapse under what seemed to be years of wear and tear.

      The porch was covered in wooden windchimes, all moving back and forth with the rhythm of the late night breeze, which was starting to send a chill down the elder boy’s spine. He turned towards Hayner, who was leading the group, before gently kicking the ground as they stopped in front of the house. There was a soft light lit towards what seemed to be the back of the house, but the warped windows made it unclear as to what was going on inside.

      The group of boys, and a few select girls, had decided that tonight would be the night to finally figure out what was going on in that house. Drawing straws, it was decided that one of the group elders, Riku, would be trespassing into some stranger’s yard and trying to peek into the windows to see if there was anything that could be spotted inside such as a person, or perhaps a photo atop a fireplace mantle. Hayner looked towards Riku, shining the light in his face, and Riku’s eyes narrowed at the direct contact into his corneas.

      “Alright, Riku. It’s your time to go onto the yard and find out what’s going on.”  
      “I really don’t like the idea of this, Hayner.”  
      “I know you don’t, but you lost the selection back there. It’s time for you to put an end to this weird rumor that’s going around.”

      Riku didn’t say anything back this time, but instead looked forward towards the house. It was so dark, dismal, and dreary. Riku wasn’t considered a coward, not by a long shot, but this was something illegal, and he could most easily get arrested and put into jail for it. Riku was only nineteen, and he wasn’t ready to spend the first few years of his adult life behind bars -- or whatever it was they did to people who were caught trespassing on other people’s lawns.

      “Ready to go?” Pence, another friend of Riku’s, asked behind him. Riku gripped onto his flashlight and gave a small nod. He wasn’t really ready. Riku had always been a good kid. He did what he was told, (usually) stayed out of trouble back in school, and here he was committing his first felony. Oh, how growing up changed you entirely. “Don’t worry, if anything happens, we’ll raise money for your bail!” Pence added, trying to sound encouraging as Hayner moved in from the side and pushed Riku towards the house, having the silver-haired male trip for a few seconds before righting himself.

      Riku turned towards Hayner, Pence, and the rest of the group, before starting to slink towards the house. Riku could only think of how bad of an idea this was. As he slowly made his way onto the lawn, there was almost something like a sudden chill as he walked onto the yard. It only lasted for a few moments though before Riku continued creeping around the house. Looking back, he noticed the flashlights starting to blink out one by one, perhaps making sure that they weren’t spotted in the darkness of the back streets that they were traveling around on.

      Riku, however, kept his flashlight on as the lights in the house weren’t bright enough, and he continued to tread carefully. As Riku continued making his way towards the back, he started to notice that the back of the house was actually well kept the more he looked around with his flashlight. The grass was properly cut, the ivy in the front of the house wasn’t everywhere back here, and there was even a small fountain in the back which burbled continuously. _Who runs a fountain in the back where no one can see it, and why is it running during the night?_ Riku thought to himself as he continued moving.

      The forest behind the house looked quite eerie, and Riku was starting to get a shiver down his spine again. Was it getting too cold to be doing this? Perhaps he should go back, but he just wasn’t sure. When his phone buzzed in his back pocket, Riku couldn’t help but jump slightly before pulling out his phone and looking down towards the message which lit up his screen.

      “We’re going...back to the house?” Riku whispered to himself as he read the message to himself, placing down the flashlight on the ground and quickly trying to type back a reply. “Oh like Hell they’re going back to the house and leaving me in the dust like that.” he growled to himself, sending a message similar to what he had muttered. Riku waited for a reply before getting another message about how cold it was outside and they would rather be inside. Riku gritted his teeth together before hissing. Okay, yeah, maybe now it was time to go. He bent down to pick up the flashlight and turned around, but what he saw made him stop.

      A cat was sitting outside, directly in front of him, looking towards him as if this cat knew what Riku was doing was illegal. This was the same cat that was often seen around the property, but now that Riku was a little bit more close to it, he could see just how big it was. He started backing up slowly, continuously looking back to make sure that he wasn’t tripping over something or other; Riku hadn’t looked too much into the backyard. The cat stood up and slowly stalked towards him, looking graceful as it did so. The cat itself was about the size of a golden retriever, and that freaked Riku out even more. Riku liked cats, actually, but he hadn’t seen how big this cat was this close, and he was getting ready to run for it.

      Riku continued to back up before turning around and deciding to just walk calmly away. Despite Riku’s master plan, it didn’t pan out as well as he had hoped it would. He wasn’t looking down towards the ground, and didn’t see the root that was jutting out of the ground. The silver-haired male tripped forward, discovering in the quick few moments of being close to the ground that grass didn’t taste good, and also hissing loudly as he looked towards his ankle. He had tripped over...over a fricken _tree root!_ What kind of cliche horror movie was this? The cat stopped moving, and Riku could have sworn that its eyes widened.

      The cat bounded towards the house and entered it through what could only be considered a doggy door, and he disappeared. Riku gave a sigh before looking down towards his ankle, looking it over. Riku looked around for his flashlight, which had gone from his grip when he fell, and when he saw the light not too far from him, he reached over to pick it up. He looked towards his ankle, which looked like it was already swelling. Oh this was just fantastic. Now what was Riku supposed to do? He would have to hobble out of here and back to Hayner’s house, where they were all surely waiting for him. Riku looked around for his phone, which had also fallen out of his hand, and he picked it up. No messages from Hayner or anyone else. “Some friends....” he muttered to himself before hearing the backdoor open. _Oh crap!_

      Riku didn’t move out of fear of being seen, forgetting that he had a flashlight in his hand. Had...had the _cat_ told the owner about what had happened? No way. Wait...the person living here was a witch, right, and they had cat familiars? No, that was just fantasies that came from movies. Cats couldn’t talk, this wasn’t Harry Potter. The flashlight the other was carrying was directed towards him, and Riku tried to get a good look of who was looking at him, despite being silhouetted by the rays of light at his face. That was happening too much today, really.

      “Hey, you okay?” the voice spoke up. Riku had been expecting the voice of an older woman, really, but the voice that came out surprised him. It was a man’s voice, and from what Riku could tell, the person was young. There was actually a young male living here? Riku tried to get a look of this guy, but all he could see was what looked like untamed hair. Riku couldn’t speak, mostly because he didn’t know what to say. “You okay?” the voice spoke up again, and this time, Riku was prompted into speaking.

      “Uh, yeah.” Riku muttered awkwardly, his reply a lie since he was sure that he now couldn’t walk on his left foot. The boy with the flashlight started towards him, and Riku did his best to shy away. He didn’t want to be seen like this. He was covered in grass and dirt, his ankle was swollen to about two times its size, and Riku could hardly see out of his bangs which symboled that his hair was ratty (probably from the fall).

      “You don’t look okay. Did you trip and fall?” the boy asked, getting closer to Riku before holding his hand out towards the other. Riku didn’t know if he should take it or not, but out of pure habit he did so, clasping onto the other’s hand and standing up carefully with the help of the other male. Now that the light wasn’t shining in Riku’s face anymore, he could get a closer look at the male. A scrawny kid, shorter than he was by far, looked fit but not muscular, and wow that hair was something to be marveled at. How was it sticking up like that?

      “Are you okay to stand? Can you walk?” the boy asked, looking over Riku which caused the other to get flustered out of embarrassment. This was just an awful night, really.

      “Yeah, I’m fine.”  
      “Your ankle doesn’t look fine.”  
      “I -- uh....”

      Just why was this boy not calling the cops? The boy moved to stand by Riku’s side before wrapping an arm around the other, deciding to help him walk. “We’re going to head into my house, all right? I’m gonna patch you up and see what we can do about that ankle.” the boy spoke, starting to help lead the other towards his house. Red flags went up for Riku. This was the first time this had ever happened, and just why was this boy too friendly? Now, he was being invited into this boy’s house while injured. Great. It wasn’t a witch that lived here, it was a dang _serial killer._

      Riku, however, couldn’t fight; the boy had a tight grip on him. _I’m going to die. This is how I’m going to go._ Riku thought to himself as he got closer to the back door. He could see the cat standing in the doorway before backing up to make room for the duo to enter the house. Once inside, Riku couldn’t help but admit that the entire house was warm and smelled very comforting. He also noticed that the interior looked like it hadn’t been redone since the late 70s. There was floral patterns everywhere, which Riku was confused with. Wouldn’t a guy want something less flowery?

      The guy led Riku to the nearby floral sofa, which was located closer to the front of the house, and laid him down. “There you go, lay down. Put your foot up, okay? I’m gonna go get my medkit from upstairs. Stay here, got it?” the boy spoke, placing Riku down and moving to go quickly get the kit. Riku turned to look at the boy, but he was already jogging away from Riku so he couldn’t see his face. However, he could see the other’s hair now a lot better -- brown and even more wild in more lighting.

      The cat, which Riku couldn’t help but look at, continued to look at him before walking over. Riku blinked before slowly reaching forward. At least he could pet the cat before anything drastic happened. The cat moved its head towards the outstretched palm and butted his head against Riku’s hand, which Riku couldn’t help but smile and chuckle at. He gave the cat a quick scratch behind the ear, smiling happily. “Good kitty.” he couldn’t help but mutter before hearing footsteps hustle back down the stairs.

      Riku pulled his hand back to his side before finally catching the other’s face. Tanned skin, looked to be around mid to late teens. There had to be more than one person just living here. There was no way that a kid this age could be living alone. Riku watched the teen look towards him and give him a quick smile before starting towards his ankle. Riku bit the inside of his lip, nervous as to what the other was going to do. This medkit looked like it was a laptop carrying bag. What was in this thing?

      “All right, I got some gauze and some other stuff to help with the ankle. It’s sprained, right? I mean, it looks pretty bad. Just what did you trip over?” the boy asked, but Riku didn’t want to speak right now. He was just too fascinated by what the other called a medkit. That didn’t look like a medkit at all. The boy had the kit open, and it was filled with vials of liquid, stones, and other items that did seem pretty witchy. Were the rumors true? Was this boy really a witch...wizard? Would he be classified as a wizard? Wizards were male, right?

      “Okaaay don’t answer me that’s cool too.” the boy replied, starting to pull out stuff. That finally awoke Riku out of his amazed stupor and he looked towards the boy, finally speaking.

      “Oh uh...root.”  
      “A root? A tree root?”  
      “Yeah.”  
      “Huh, karma served you quickly.”  
      “Are you a wizard?”

      Riku didn’t mean to blurt that out like that. Why had he done that? Riku was known for doing stupid stuff when he was in immense pain -- he would often times say stuff that he didn’t even think he would say until it was spilling out of his mouth. It was like alcohol without drinking a drop. Riku’s question got the boy’s attention, and the boy smirked as if he was laughing. Riku groaned and tossed his head back gently against the armrest, ready for a hole to open below him and swallow him in his entirety.

      “No, I’m not a wizard.”

      Oh, that wa--

      “I’m a witch. The term witch is used for guys too, you know.”

      Riku’s head shot up before noticing that the boy was rolling up his pant leg and was starting to dabble a few things onto his ankle. What was it? Whatever it was, it smelled good, even all the way from the other side of the sofa. The boy rubbed it in lightly which made Riku feel weird, but he didn’t say anything. In fact, the more the other rubbed the liquid in, the less his ankle hurt. The boy placed the vials away before zipping up the “medkit”. “That’s just one part. Let me go get the other medkit with the gauze and stuff like that. Uh...continue staying here, okay? You’re doing fantastic!” the boy spoke before dashing back upstairs again.

      This kid was odd. He didn’t seem intent on hurting Riku, but Riku was still wary. This boy seemed a little off kilter, but maybe that was because Riku didn’t know anything about the witchcraft religion. What was it called, Wicca? He wasn’t sure, someone had told him a while ago but he hadn’t been paying much attention. This place was like some other sort of world to Riku. This kid probably believed in charms and spells, too. It was all so odd to Riku, he didn’t know what to say out of fear of offending the person. Riku _had_ sneaked into his lawn after all -- the last thing Riku was going to do was be rude.

      Riku continued to lay there before trying to slowly sit up to look at his ankle. It was at that time that the cat leapt towards him and plopped itself onto his torso, pushing him back down. “Oof!” Riku grunted, sighing to himself as he looked towards the cat, who was now looking at him with narrowed eyes. The cat’s weight was heavy upon him, and he was about as cumbersome as a dog, too. “I just wanted to see my ankle!” Riku replied towards the cat, who was still giving him a glaring look. Riku rolled his eyes before running a hand through his hair and pushing his bangs out of his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m talking to a cat.” he whispered to himself. It was then that the cat moved a paw and placed it upon Riku’s mouth, almost seeming like it was telling Riku to not speak.

      Riku narrowed his eyes towards the cat, and the cat continued to leer before Riku until steps started down the staircase. The boy stopped as he got to the bottom of the stairs, and he couldn’t help but chortle. “Did you try and move?” he asked, and Riku moved the cat’s paw to reply. The cat hopped off of him instead and wandered over towards the boy, circling around him but keeping an eye towards Riku.

      “I just wanted to look at my ankle. What did you do with those vials from before?” Riku asked, and the boy strode over towards him with what looked to be a more proper, plastic medkit.

      “I just put some essential oils on it. I used chamomile, lavender, and ginger. How is your ankle feeling?” the boy asked before starting back over towards Riku’s ankle.

      “It’s a little bit better, actually. I...I didn’t think those worked.” he confessed. Riku had only heard from tons of people that essential oils didn’t work, but they seemed to be working on Riku’s sprain. The boy looked towards Riku’s astounded face and laughed out loud.

      “Well, of course they work. I’m a witch, I know how to use them properly! Besides, all of my vials have been blessed every month on the new moon. I know exactly what I’m doing, thank you very much.” the boy replied, sassing playfully as he gently poked Riku’s calf and started to dig through this specific medkit, which, if Riku looked carefully and peered his head around properly, he could see that this was the medkit with the bandages and the gauze and everything else that seemed normal. There was even an epipen in there. Was the boy allergic to peanuts or something?

      “You’ve got a lot of stuff in there.” Riku muttered, and the boy smiled.

      “I’ve always gotta be prepared. Sometimes some spells end up not working or blowing up in your face or whatever. Experimenting with spells is always an interesting time. Anyway, yes, I have a lot of stuff in here. Don’t move, wrapping up your ankle is probably going to hurt.” the boy spoke up, and without much else of a warning, the boy grabbed onto the gauze, undid it, and started wrapping it around Riku’s ankle, causing the other to grip into the sofa cushions until his knuckles turned white and causing a small hissing noise to escape his mouth. “Sorry, sorry. I told you it was gonna hurt, ya know.”

      “Yeah, that still doesn’t stop the pain from happening.” Riku snapped back, and there was a snort from the boy. He stood up and walked over towards the sink, grabbing onto what looked to be a hand towel, and turned on the tap. He ran the towel under the water and walked back over towards Riku.

      “This is cold water. Only when it’s swelling should cold water be used.” the boy spoke up, placing the damp towel onto Riku’s ankle. Riku hissed again, this time a little bit more quietly, and he finally moved to sit up. This time, the cat, who was still hanging out near the couch, let him do so. “Just be careful. I don’t want you getting anymore hurt. No walking on that for a while, though. That looks _pre_ tty bad.” the boy muttered, rubbing the back of his head as he looked back towards the ankle once more before finally looking Riku in the face.

      Riku dodged looking at the boy’s face before the brunet moved around to try and look directly in Riku’s eyes. “Hey, stop doing that! I wanna get a look at the person who trespassed on my lawn, you know.” he spoke up. Despite saying that, however, he sounded playful when he spoke, and when Riku finally looked towards the boy, he had a smile on his face. “There we go! So, should I ask the question you’re dreading to hear come outta my mouth?”

      “Go ahead.”  
      “What were you doing in my yard?”

      Riku took a deep breath and looked down, embarrassed that he had even gotten into this issue in the first place. “I was at a get together with my friends at one of my friend’s houses. He ended up mentioning the old, spooky house that belonged to the witch a few doors down. There’s rumors that a witch lives here, and I guess they were right...but uh, so he mentioned that we should go check out the place and see if the rumors are true, so we kinda drew straws and I ended up being unlucky.” Riku replied, still looking down.

      “Where are your friends now?”  
      “They said that they were heading home because it’s cold out.”

      The boy snorted again. “Those sound like some really good friends of yours. You didn’t know who was on the property. I could have been some sort of murderer or something.” he replied, starting to pack up the medkit.

 _Funny, that’s what I had thought outside._ Riku internally grumbled before watching the boy pick up the kit and start towards the stairs.

      “I’ll be right back. I’ve got a few other questions to ask you.” he spoke, and Riku shuffled on the sofa. At least this boy seemed nicer than a police officer. Riku could handle an oddball kid a lot better then some sort of strict police officer who would grill him as to why Riku was letting kids who were a few years younger than him push him around to go onto some neighbors lawn.

      The boy turned around before smiling. “Don’t worry, you’re only going to get a small scolding.” he replied, humming as he started up the stairs. Riku sighed before looking up towards the tan ceiling. What was he supposed to do now? Riku sat there in silence before the boy made it back down the stairs and towards him. “Alright, you ready for some questions?”

      “Sure.”  
      “Awesome. So, what’s your name?”  
      “Name’s Riku.”  
      “Ree-koo, huh? Interesting name. I’m Sora, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”  
      “Nice to meet you, Sora.”

      The brunet smiled and walked over towards the kitchen. He grabbed onto one of the dining table chairs and pulled it over towards the sofa. Sora plopped down onto the chair and grinned towards Riku. “So, you wandered into my yard on a bet?”

      “Not a bet, I was just unlucky and pulled the wrong stick.”  
      “Ohh, I see.”

      Sora leaned back on the chair before looking towards Riku with a raised eyebrow. “Are your friends aware that they were making you do illegal things?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Riku sighed again before rubbing his forearm.

      “Yeah, probably. I’m sure they thought that maybe the house was abandoned or something?” A small white lie never hurt anyone. No one thought the house was abandoned, but Riku wasn’t going to tell Sora that. “Either way, I’m sorry for wandering onto your yard. I have a question though. Your cat...it seems to be really close to you. They say that witches have familiars....”

      Sora’s face grew a soft smile, and the cat walked over towards Sora, who reached out to pet him. “Yeah, he’s my familiar. His name is Mixer. He’s one of my closest friends -- in fact, he’s one of the only friends I have.” Sora whispered that last part quietly, his face turning a light pink. Was Sora embarrassed about that? Riku didn’t want to embarrass the other anymore so instead he decided to change the subject.

      “You’re like...a full blown witch, aren’t you? Spells, crystals, herbs...everything?” Riku asked, and Sora nodded.

      “Yeah, I’m a “full blown witch”, as you said. I do spells, worship the Lord and Lady, and everything inbetween. I’m Wiccan, if that’s what you’re really trying to get at. Is there anything else you wanna know?” Sora asked, and Riku looked down before looking back up towards Sora, a raised eyebrow.

      “I thought you were going to be the one interrogating me.” he replied, and Sora looked like he had just been hit with the realization that, yes, he _should_ have been the one interrogating Riku. Sora sat up a little bit more before nodding.

      “Yeah. You’re right. So, I know that you’re not going to hurt me, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to get onto the lawn in the first place, but are you sure that’s it? That’s...just it? A dare?” It was almost like Sora couldn’t believe that someone would want to go onto his lawn for no reason other than a dare. “Did they want you to do anything while you were here?” he continued to prod, and Riku shrugged before shifting around on the sofa to get a little bit more comfortable.

      “They wanted me to see what was going on inside, see what was happening. They were just curious.” Riku replied. He wasn’t going to mention taking photos of the inside of the house, that would have just been awkward. Riku instead looked down towards his lap, trying to avoid blushing out of embarrassment. “I’m...I’m really sorry.”

      There was a silence before Sora leaned onto the back of the chair before sighing to himself. Another quick moment of silence and thinking before he sat up and stretched before standing up. “All right, Ree-koo, I gotcha. I understand. I too was a child who fell to peer pressure back when I went to school. I mean, it wasn’t worth it, all of those friends left me after they found out about my witchy prowess, but I understand.” Sora started speaking, and quite dramatically, too. It was obvious that Sora wasn’t serious about being angry with Riku, which caused the silver-haired male to smile. However, something did catch him off guard.

      “A child? You’re aware that I’m nineteen, right?” Riku replied, looking towards Sora with a chuckle. However, Sora shot back, an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face,

      “Oh, are you? You don’t act like it.”

      Riku looked down, not expecting that sass to come back at him so quickly. In fact, he was almost stunned into silence, his face contorting to an exaggerated frown and wide eyes, which caused Sora to laugh from what little he could see of Riku’s face. “You’re nineteen? Almost twenty. What if you got arrested? You would have been totally busted and sent to jail. You’re lucky that I’m a forgiving person, you know.” Sora spoke, his tone turning serious. Riku’s face went from exaggerated to serious as well, looking up towards Sora who seemed to smile when Riku looked towards him.

      “Don’t get upset over it. You’re fine, Riku. Just know that you were being looked down upon generously, that’s all. You’re very lucky.” Sora spoke, reaching over to gently poke the top of Riku’s head with his pointer finger before starting towards the kitchen. “Are you hungry? I have some stuff I can reheat.”

      Wait, Sora was offering him food? No way! “Do you give everyone who tresspasses on your lawn food?” Riku asked, and Sora snickered from behind the fridge door. There wasn’t a reply, but instead a pizza box was pulled out and put onto the countertop table. Sora decided to reply at this point.

      “Of course I do. I leave out crumbs for the birds.” he replied, grabbing two slices and placing them onto a plate. He popped the plate into the microwave, pressed a few buttons, and started back towards Riku. He sat back on the chair and smiled. “I only have cheese, but I hope that’s okay. I got extra cheese. You’re not lactose intolerant, are you?”

      Riku shook his head before looking towards the microwave. Now that he thought about hot, melted, cheesy pizza, Riku’s mouth started watering. He hadn’t eaten when he got to Hayner’s house, and his lunch, if he could even call it that, was a small handful of trail mix before bustling out the door. “That smells really good....” Riku whispered to himself. Sora chuckled before looking back towards the microwave.

      “It really does. So, Riku, where do you live around here? Are you closeby? Go to the nearby school? Wait, you graduated, yeah? Said you’re nineteen, so you must go to college.” Sora spoke, and Riku was taken aback by all of the wild questions that had popped out of nowhere. Riku blinked before starting to answer.

      “I do live around here, yeah. I live only ten minutes away from here, and no, I don’t go to college. I’m having issues affording it, so I can’t go. I’m trying to find a job, too, but nothing. Dad told me to focus on all of my schoolwork during high school, so I didn’t get any jobs during high school, either.” Riku spoke before shrugging. Sora nodded before leaning on the back of the chair again.

      “So you’re currently very jobless.”  
      “Yes, why are you asking?”  
      “Just curious. How old are all of your friends?”  
      “...Why?”  
      “I dunno. I still feel like interrogating you but I don’t know what else to ask.”

      Sora smiled at that last line, and Riku couldn’t help but smile too. Riku felt uneasy with the questions, but answered the last question Sora had asked him. “Most of my friends are still in high school. They’re seventeen, eighteen.”

      Sora smirked. “So you’re like the babysitter?” Riku’s face contorted to one of slight annoyance at that nickname, but his face relaxed before running a hand through his hair and pulling out a stray leaf that must have stayed there when he had toppled onto the ground before. Sora reached forward, grabbed onto it, and placed it into one of the hanging plants from the ceiling. Now that Riku looked around, the entire house was covered in hanging plants and ground plants and...wow this place really was green. Witches liked nature, didn’t they?

      The microwave went off, and Sora stood up and walked over towards it. Riku shuffled around on the sofa, looking around for Mixer, who had seemed to vanish. The next thing that Riku was aware of was the weight of the pizza plate on his lap, the soft cushion of the pillow to make sure Riku didn’t burn himself, and the really good smell of the cheesy pizza.

      “Thanks!” Riku spoke up, his eyes lighting up before grabbing onto the slice and taking a bite. His mouth burned, but Riku didn’t care. He chewed and swallowed quickly before leaning back gently against the arm of the sofa, groaning out of pure bliss. “This is so good. Thank you. I hadn’t eaten well today.”

      Sora smiled when he watched Riku eat, seeming to take joy in the other being happy about eating. “Happy I got you to eat, then. Are you feeling better?” Sora asked, and Riku didn’t have time to answer as he was too busy taking another bite and chewing happily. Sora hummed happily at the lack of reply before starting back towards the pizza and getting himself something to eat this time, too.

      Riku watched the other walk back to the kitchen, wondering what he should do now. Should he stay the night? No, he had told his dad that he was going to be staying at Hayner’s house that night. Wait, Hayner! Riku had totally forgotten all about him, he had just been too busy talking with Sora! Riku shuffled to grab onto his phone, letting the pizza rest on the plate.

      “Oh, crap.” Riku cursed, and Sora turned to face the other, his head tilting in question. Riku looked up towards Sora before looking back down towards his phone. “Hayner is making his way here right now, along with the rest of the group. They’re worried about me.” he muttered, quickly texting Hayner that he was okay and that he wasn’t in jail right now. Sora gave a loud sigh from the kitchen before turning towards the other.

      “Are you sure about that? Them being worried? They seemed to just leave you when it got a little chilly.” Sora teased, placing his pizza in the microwave before starting back over towards Riku. Riku placed his phone on the coffee table to his side before eating again. Riku couldn’t help but smile as he took a bite, and Sora smiled back. “I’m joking, I’m sure they actually are worried about you. How long ago was that message sent?”

      Riku grabbed onto his phone and checked the time. “It was about three minutes ago. Let me finish eating.” he replied, placing the phone back down between the back cushion of the sofa and his thigh and quickly finishing up the main part of the pizza--he wouldn’t ever eat the crust. In the meantime, Sora had sat back down at the chair with his own now heated pizza, and the brunet watched the other carefully.

      “So, they’re going to be coming here soon? I wouldn't worry, really. Do they bring harm?” Sora asked, and as Riku was finishing up, he looked up towards Sora with a raised eyebrow. “I need to know, Riku.” he asked before taking a bite. Riku shrugged before wondering if they would bring harm. They probably thought that Riku was kidnapped or something like that, maybe? No, he had told them he was fine. Hopefully, Hayner wouldn’t do anything wild. It was Hayner who was the temperamental one.

      “I do have a friend who is slightly easy to annoy. He gets into fights a lot. He might not be happy with you.” Riku replied, and Sora gave a small breath through his nose after swallowing. “Is that bad?” Riku asked, and Sora nodded before placing his plate down.

      “Yeah, it’s not great. He’s not going to be able to walk onto my property.” Sora spoke, and Riku raised an eyebrow. Hayner wouldn’t be able to walk onto Sora’s yard? Why not? Riku placed his plate on the coffee table and Sora followed suit. “Here, let me help you stand. You have to get ready to move.” the brunet spoke up, standing and moving towards Riku. Riku slowly sat up and, with help of Sora, slowly did his best to stand up. The rag that had covered his ankle had fallen, but Sora ignored it. In fact, Mixer himself moved to pick it up and walk over towards the kitchen, placing the rag onto the countertop.

      Riku was careful to move slowly, along with Sora’s help. “Are you okay?” Sora asked, and Riku gave a small smile and a nod in reply.

      “Yeah, I’m all right. My ankle is just really hurting right now. Thanks for helping me.” Riku replied, and Sora looked towards Riku with a small smile.

      “It’s not a problem. If you need anything else again, just let me know. My house is open to you.” Sora spoke up, and Riku’s face turned a light pink. He refused to look the other in the eye because of his face, keeping his head down instead. That was quite sweet, and Riku didn’t know how to react to it. Sora’s smile grew when he saw Riku’s reaction. “Did I surprise you with that?” he asked, and Riku looked over towards Sora, his mouth slightly ajar because yes, Sora was right.

      “Uh, yeah.” Riku replied, looking back down towards the ground and hearing Sora humph happily. Sora started Riku towards the front door. Sora, with one hand, opened it and started Riku towards the front step of the porch. The windchimes continued to move, and with closer inspection, they looked like they were made out of bamboo. “You really like windchimes, don’t you?” Riku asked, and Sora nodded.

      “I love them, especially the wooden ones! They sound so much nicer than the metal ones, in my opinion. They sound a lot more nature...y? I guess? I like these a lot better though.” Sora confirmed, helping Riku sit down on the stairs. “There you go. Sit down carefully.”

      Riku did so, grunting all the while he moved. “Ah, this really hurts.” he muttered, and Sora gave the other what could only be classified as a pity smile before standing up after letting Riku sit down. “I mean, it’s already doing a lot better though. Thank you so much.” Riku quickly added. Sora grinned before stretching, all while Riku watching him.

 _Cute...._ Riku quickly added to his thoughts before facing forward and looking around the street for beams of light. It was only about a minute after that he finally started seeing them down the road. “There they are.” Riku spoke, nodding upwards. Sora, who had been leaning against the post supporting the roof of the porch, stood up straighter and waved.

      “Heeeey! I have your convict heeeere!” Sora yelled out towards what could have been the whole neighborhood, and Riku rolled his eyes before sighing. However, Sora wasn’t really wrong. One of the flashlights started moving faster towards the house. “Hey, you didn’t answer my question before very well. Is one of them going to be angry at me and have, like, a taste for vengeance or something?” Sora asked, bending over slightly. Riku looked up towards Sora before looking back towards the faster-moving flashlight; it was probably Hayner.

      “That’s a good question. I know Hayner gets really protective of his friends so, I’m not sure.” Riku replied honestly. To make sure that no fights would happen, Riku called out towards them,, “I’m fine, I’m fine! It’s all okay!” before looking back up towards Sora, who bit his lower lip.

      “We’ll see what happens. Remember, I told you, I put a spell on this house. If they want to hurt me, they’ll just end up going back home all confused.” Sora replied, and Riku rose an eyebrow. That was probably about 99% false. Sora was a witch, yeah, but that sort of stuff was over-the-top. Did Sora actually believe in that sort of stuff? To Riku it seemed odd, and he wasn’t expecting that sort of stuff to come out of Sora’s mouth. The brunet seemed like he was anxious; he was even biting his thumb out of what could only be considered a nervous habit.

      The flashlights following behind Hayner picked up the pace, and Riku took a deep breath before the light of Sora’s house finally lit up Hayner’s face. Hayner looked towards Sora with narrowed eyebrows before taking a single step onto Sora’s yard. It was then that he froze. Sora stood up a little bit taller, and the rest of Riku’s friends, who had now caught up, halted as well. Everyone was watching Hayner, who gripped onto his flashlight before turning around.

      “I’m going home. I don’t feel well.” he muttered, and Sora stood up even taller now. Riku looked up towards Sora, his mouth opening in shock. Sora _was_ a witch. A real, true, genuine witch with magical abilities that could make people leave his house. Was this _Charmed_ or something? Sora looked down towards Riku with a raised eyebrow, and in seeing his expression, gave him a small smirk. Could Sora read his mind?

      Everyone, in a confused panic, watched Hayner walk away, trying to get him to turn around and grab onto Riku. The only person that stayed behind was Pence, who looked up towards Sora before walking towards the yard. Riku held his breath before Pence easily walked onto the yard, no pause or anything. Riku released the breath he was holding. Pence always was pretty easy-going; he didn’t have a mean bone in his body.

      “Hey there. Are you the person who lives here?” he asked, and Sora, who seemed happy now that there was one person who wasn’t ready to attack Sora on the whim. Sora’s smile grew friendly towards Pence and he nodded.

      “I am, hello! It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m the neighborhood witch.” Sora introduced himself, and Riku shoved his face into his hands. Sora wasn’t even his dad and he was embarrassing him in front of his friends. Pence gave an awkward laugh before reaching forward to shake Sora’s hand, who returned the gesture happily.

      “Yeah, I’m guessing Riku told you everything?” Pence spoke up, and Sora nodded in reply. “I’m sorry about that.” he muttered, and Sora shook his head at that.

      “Oh, don’t worry. No one was wrong, really. I am kinda witchy, aren’t I?” Sora teased, winking playfully which made Pence clear his throat and made his face turn pink. Riku bit his bottom lip to make sure he didn’t burst out laughing in front of the poor, flustered boy. Sora sure was playful.

      “But still, we shouldn’t be spreading rumors like that around. I’m so sorry.” Pence replied, and Sora shook his head once more.

      “Don’t sweat it, you’re fine. Anyway, here is your convict. Tripped over a tree root and twisted his ankle. I did what I could to help him. The swelling should go down tomorrow.” Sora replied, helping the other stand once more. Riku hissed and groaned as he stood, his entire body urging him to not stand on his damaged ankle. Pence rushed forward at once and grabbed onto part of Riku, who leaned heavily on the other. Thankfully, Pence was stronger than he looked and held Riku quite nicely.

      “I’ve got him. Thank you...uh....”  
      “Name’s Sora! It’s a pleasure to meet you!”  
      “Sora. Thanks, Sora!”  
      “Of course! Get him home safe!”

      As Pence helped walk Riku down the stairs, Riku looked over his shoulder towards Sora, who was waving. Mixer stood beside him, the tall cat lifting a paw and moving it up and down as if waving. Oh. That was weird. Sora, too, was waving, and Riku decided to wave back towards both of them. Sora smiled, turned around, and motioned for Mixer to follow after him. The boy entered, the cat entered, and the door closed. The only sound was Sora’s windchimes and the confused fluster of the rest of the group of friends down the street trying to figure out what happened to Hayner.

      Pence turned towards Riku, and finally noticing that Sora was back in the house, spoke up. “You thought he was cute.” Riku’s jaw dropped, and he looked over towards Pence with wide eyes. Pence laughed, however. “You know that I’m right. You thought he was cute, didn’t you? You don’t hide your crushes very well.” Pence spoke up, and Riku grumbled but didn’t reply. Pence gave a small chuckle. “Thought so."


	2. A Sneaking Out and a Nice Lunch

      That night, when Riku’s father had to pick him up because Riku wasn’t staying over anymore, Riku gave a roundabout answer as to how he ended up badly spraining his ankle, and that night, as Riku lay in bed back at his house, all he could think about was Sora, the odd witch who actually seemed to have true, genuine powers. He was almost afraid of the other, but at the same time entranced. Was that witch magic, or something else? Riku rolled over, deciding that facing the ceiling wasn’t helping, and burrowed his face in the pillow, groaning. He had only just met the boy, and here he was totally crushing on him.

      Now what was Riku supposed to do?

      Riku’s father had gotten him crutches that morning, despite Riku’s protests of not wanting them. “I don’t want you tripping and falling again, Riku. You’re klutzy when you’re hurt, you know.” he spoke as he gave the wooden crutches to Riku. The boy grumbled in an annoyed manner before grabbing onto them and placing them under his arms. It hurt him, but he didn’t complain. If anything, this now gave him an excuse to lounge around all day.

      After his father left the house for work, making sure that Riku was comfortable on the couch and didn’t need to move, Riku wasn’t sure what to do. Usually he would be up in his room playing video games, or doing something else--however, Riku wasn’t going anywhere from the sofa. Going up or down the stairs, according to his dad, was too much of a health risk (which got an eye roll from Riku, but his dad ignored it or didn’t notice), so Riku was stuck down where the kitchen and bathroom were.

      This was actually _boring_ to Riku. Who knew that sitting around with only a phone could be so boring? Nothing interesting was showing up on YouTube, and Facebook was slow today. He grunted before rolling over to face the wall. He almost missed seeing all of the potted plants hanging from the ceiling back at Sora’s house. It was embarrassing to admit it, but Riku loved how homey Sora’s place was. It made the place feel inviting.      

      Sora...would Riku even be able to make it to Sora’s house if he wanted to go? Riku wasn’t sure. He sat up and looked towards his ankle, pulling back his pant leg to look at it. It wasn’t looking all that bad. Maybe his dad was exaggerating. Sure, Riku couldn’t walk on it very well, but he could still move; and the neighborhood wasn’t all that hilly so he could walk easily on the backstreets....

      Riku bit his bottom lip before grabbing onto the crutches. Oh man, if his dad found out what he was doing, he was going to be in so much trouble. However, Riku really wanted to see Sora again. Besides, Riku hadn’t properly thanked the other for taking care of him last night. Riku sat up slowly and stood up carefully, making sure that he was situated well on the crutches. He moved towards the door, opened it up carefully, and started down the steps towards Sora’s house.

      Riku kept on wondering if this was a good idea, but he really couldn’t see any cons to seeing Sora again. In fact, as he made his way towards the witch’s house, he wondered what would happen if he saw Sora again. Riku was pretty curious about the spells and stuff, and now seeing that Sora’s magic was actually real.... Riku was still having slight issues with that, but he didn’t mind it all that much. In fact, Riku found that really cool. It was like Sora brought out the child in him again.

      The day was beautiful outside--the sun was now shining and he was quite happy to be outside. Riku hadn’t been expecting much of the day, but now that he was outside, he had officially declared that it was nice, and he was excited to be outside. Slowly making his way towards the street where Sora lived, Riku was careful the entire way. His ankle hurt, but he didn’t care; seeing Sora was his top priority.

      Riku ended up in front of Sora’s house in only about eleven minutes, which was a shock considering that he would have thought it would be a lot longer with his swollen ankle. Riku took a deep breath before slowly hobbling towards the patio steps, stopping before getting onto the steps. It was hard to imagine that this place was literally surrounded by magic--real magic. Riku had seen the wonders last night. Hayner would never do what he had done.

      Riku banged one of his crutches on the stairs and waited for a few moments. The noise was loud enough, and he hoped that it would catch Sora’s attention. However, after a few minutes, nothing had replied. He didn’t even see Sora’s cat. Riku rapped on the stairs again before hobbling up them carefully. Riku hissed as he bumped his ankle on the top stair, but he ignored it when he saw the door.

      “Hey, Sora?” Riku spoke up, reaching forward and knocking on the door. Riku waited a few moments before taking a deep breath. Was Sora really not home? It was then that the door swung open, but Sora was nowhere to be seen. Riku looked around before hearing commotion in the kitchen.

      “Come on in! Sorry about taking so long. I had to try and focus better since I’m doing multiple things at once.” Sora’s voice spoke up from the kitchen, and Riku’s eyebrow rose at that. He would have to ask about that later. He made his way in carefully before watching the door close, as if, well, by magic. Riku cleared his throat and shook his head before starting his way diagonally to the left, getting a view of the living room where he had stayed the night before, and the kitchen. “Hey there, Riku! Good afternoon! I’m surprised you’re back!”

      Riku watched Sora cook something in the kitchen. Sora was paying most of his attention to the cooking before finally moving everything off of the stove to look towards Riku. “So, how is your leg?”

      “It’s uh...actually feeling a lot better. Thank you."  
       “Of course!”

      Sora walked over towards Riku, gave him a quick hug (which Riku couldn’t help but like a lot--even though he wasn’t going to admit that), and started back towards his food. “Sorry, I’m currently cooking. Do you want to help...wait no you’re currently a little unmobile. Go ahead and sit down on the sofa. I’m making some pasta and pasta sauce. It’s my mom’s recipe.”

      Riku nodded before starting over towards the sofa. He sat down carefully, quietly hissing to himself when he accidentally placed some weight on his damaged ankle “So, Sora...you’re like...how did the door open, again?” Riku stumbled out, and Sora laughed.

      “Is the whole magic thing still getting to you?”  
      “Why do you trust me?”

      Sora didn’t say anything for a few moments before shrugging. He looked over towards Riku with a grin before looking back towards the pasta sauce he was making. “Well, I guess it’s just witch’s intuition. I don’t think you’re a bad guy, and I don’t feel like you would go around telling anyone. Besides, if you did tell anyone, you would be labeled insane, anyway. My type of magic supposedly doesn’t exist on this planet, yeah?” Sora replied, and Riku looked down towards the ground.

      “Yeah....” was all Riku could reply. Riku never even thought to tell anyone. In fact, he didn’t say anything about the magic to his dad, or to Hayner (who had actually been affected by it in the first place), or Pence, or anyone else. “You’re right. I didn’t tell anyone after last night.”

      Sora gave a playful chuckle before taking the sauce off of the burner and setting a time for the actual pasta itself. “Yeah, I thought you wouldn’t. So, let’s see that ankle. Did you come back for witchy treatment? I’m gonna start charging you, you know.” Sora spoke, and Riku’s body halted. Wait, what? “Joking, of course. You don’t have to pay for anything.” Sora quickly added, sensing Riku’s hesitation. Riku took a deep sigh before leaning back onto the sofa, chuckling into his hand.

      “Ya got me there.”  
      “It’s a little late for April Fools, sorry.”

      Both Sora and Riku laughed quietly before Sora started up the stairs, probably going to go get his medkit. Riku moved so that his ankle was propped up on the armrest like it was last night. Last night...Sora...he really was talking with a real witch. That was...something else. Riku wasn’t even sure what to think of it. He was honestly amazed at what he had seen before. The door opening on its own, Hayner walking home just out of the blue like that...his ankle healing quicker must have been some sort of magic, too.

      Sora dashed down the stairs towards Riku, who looked towards his ankle. He pulled back his pant leg so that Sora could look at it. “Oh, wow. That’s looking a lot better then it was before. I told you essential oils worked.” Sora bragged before pulling a few vials out and dabbing a small amount on Riku’s bare skin before rubbing it in gently. Even the gentle touch of Sora’s fingertips still hurt, but Riku bit down on his tongue to avoid crying out.

      “So, Riku, why did you come back here, really?” Sora asked, but Riku wasn’t really paying attention. Instead, he was focused only on one thing--watching Sora work wonders to his ankle, which wasn’t hurting as badly anymore. In fact, his ankle almost felt perfect again. “Hey, Riku?” the brunet spoke up, pressing harder onto Riku’s ankle, which gave the other a startle before looking towards Sora, who gave a small chuckle.

      “Welcome back. We missed you.”  
      “I uh...missed you too?”

      Riku wasn’t sure what Sora was saying, so he just felt like parroting. It wasn’t until he caught what he said a few seconds later that he blushed a bright pink and he let his bangs cover more of his eyes to try and hide from Sora’s own, which were sparkling with pure playfulness. “I’m flattered, Riku. Is that the only reason you came here?” Sora asked, and Riku shook his head before looking down again.

      “I just wanted to see a friend.”  
      “So you did miss me!”  
      “I didn’t say that exactly.”  
       “That’s what it sounds like.”  
       “That’s uh....”

      Sora snorted before pulling his fingertips back and grabbing onto a wet wrap. He placed it gently around Riku’s ankle, making sure the water didn’t drip all over his couch or onto the floor. “You know, I’m happy you came back. I don’t have a lot of people to talk to, and even at work I only talk to one person. Yeah, Mixer is really good to talk to, but sometimes he’s a brat--” A loud meow came from the kitchen, and Sora’s head turned that way.

      There was Mixer, who Riku had now noticed was currently hanging out in front of the kitchen counter. “You _are_ a brat and you know it. I know you’re right there and I don’t care.” Sora spoke towards Mixer before looking back towards Riku. “Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I’m happy to have you here. Thanks for showing back up today.” Sora concluded, and Riku couldn’t help but move his bangs out of his face to try and see Sora clearer.

      The brunet was carefully tending to Riku’s ankle--he was too busy paying attention to healing to notice that Riku was currently, almost trancelike, looking towards him. Riku took some sort of blessing from that and continued to look. He couldn’t help but notice the small smile the other constantly had on his face, and was there humming involved? Riku wasn’t sure, but he really enjoyed watching the other work on him like this.

      That was when Sora looked towards him, and Riku let his bangs cover his eyes again, turning away from the other. Riku could hear a faint chuckle from Sora, and his face turned red again. It was apparent that Riku didn’t know how to sneak glances very well. However, it seemed like Sora knew exactly what Riku was feeling and didn’t bring it up, which Riku was highly thankful of. Did Sora know that Riku was perhaps maybe sort of crushing on him? Not that he was...all right so maybe he was. But it was just a savior's crush, yeah? Isn’t that what they were called? When someone does something good for you so you end up kinda thinking they’re cute? Riku wasn’t sure, and he sure as Hell wasn’t going to ask Sora.

      Riku was as queer as a two dollar bill, anyone could attest to that. Hayner, Pence, Olette, Seifer, Selphie...anyone and everyone knew that Riku wasn’t straight, and maybe Riku was desperate for someone, but he was sure that Sora wasn’t gay anyway. At least, Sora wasn’t giving any hints. Sure he may have been friendly, but being friendly didn’t always mean that you necessarily loved the other.

      Riku just assumed that Sora was straight--like he did most of the time with cute boys anyway--and crushed his dreams with the heel of his boot with his good foot.

      Sora backed up from Riku’s ankle and stood up, looking over his work. “Looks great! I’m going to go put everything back, okay? Just tell me when your ankle starts hurting again, and then I can take care of it again. Honestly, I’m going to start asking money for this.” Sora teased once more before picking up his case and started back up the stairs. Riku watched Sora go before leaning his head back, looking up towards the ceiling and sighing in annoyance with himself.

      It did seem like Riku came here because simply, he loved the way that Sora made him feel. Sora made him feel safe, but not in an overbearing way. He himself was warm and comforting, someone that people could just embrace and feel instantly feel better. Sora’s house, too, felt warm and comforting, something that anyone (as long as they had no ill intentions, apparently) could walk into and instantly be greeted with welcoming arms.

      Riku felt something against his hand, and when he looked down towards his hand (which had slid off the couch and was now dangling), he saw Mixer. Riku was about to reach up and pet Mixer until he saw that Mixer had something in his mouth. “What do you have for me...?” Riku asked, taking the object out of Mixer’s mouth. Mixer sat next to Riku as the silver-haired male looked over what he was given. “A picture?” Riku muttered in confusion. He wasn’t sure why Mixer had brought the photo towards him, but Riku did have to admit that it was cute.

      It was a picture of Sora, with who must have been his parents. Sora seemed a little bit younger, about sixteen or fifteen, and he was giving a peace sign towards the camera. His dad seemed like he was of Asian descent, but Riku wasn’t sure which part of Asia. He also seemed really young, which shocked Riku. Sora’s father had dark hair, glasses, and what looked like a tribal tattoo going down his arm. He was smiling happily, and he had his arms around both Sora and who must have been Sora’s mom. Sora’s mom looked soft spoken, quiet, and gentle. She had what looked to be a shy smile on her face, like she didn’t want to be in the picture but was forced in by Sora’s dad. She had light brown hair, which must have been where Sora got his hair color, and bright vibrant blue eyes. It seemed like Sora took a lot of his attributes from his mother. Sora’s mother also looked really young for her age. Just how old was his family? Maybe these were his siblings? Now that he thought about it, Riku wasn’t sure.

      Riku looked towards the photo, paying attention to the details in the photo. It was a lovely day, and seemed like they had set the camera up to take the photo. They seemed to be standing in front of what could only have been the fountain outside of Sora’s house in the backyard. So, just where were they now? Riku realized at that moment that he didn’t know much about Sora at all despite Sora’s friendly personality and the fact that he was an actual witch.

      He heard Sora’s footsteps coming down the stairs, and Riku panicked. He held the photograph out towards Mixer, who looked towards the picture before looking back towards Riku, who sighed. “You know, I don’t know what to do with this.” Riku bluntly spoke before noticing Sora rounding the last ledge of the staircase. Riku quickly shoved the picture frame between himself and the back of the couch, hoping that Sora wouldn’t notice.

      “All right, so, everything has been put away! You’re allowed to...watch TV, I guess. My WiFi in the house isn’t fantastic but I can give you the password anyway...if you want it. Oh, and uh...if you’re hungry I can get the pasta for you!” Sora spoke up, but Riku didn’t want any of that.

      “Tell me about your family.” Riku asked, and Sora looked towards Riku with a shocked expression. “I just...here.” Riku spoke, pulling the frame out from its hiding spot. “Mixer gave the frame to me while you were upstairs and I just...panicked so I hid it. I’m not sure why he gave it to me....” he spoke up, holding the frame towards Sora, who walked over towards the picture and carefully took it from Riku’s hands. He looked the picture over before smiling.

      “Yeah, this is my mom and my dad! Mixer, why are you giving Riku random photos of my family?” Sora asked, looking towards Mixer with a hint of playfulness in his voice. Mixer replied, probably giving Sora an answer, but Riku wasn’t privy to that information. However, what he did say managed to embarrass Sora, as Sora’s face dusted pink. Riku didn’t mention anything, but instead waited for Sora to continue.

      “Anyway, yeah this is my mom and my dad. They’re both witches too! They’re really wealthy as well, which is nice. The entire house was paid off, so I live here on my own to practice because well...I’m a growing witch. I needed a place to practice without setting my parent’s house on fire.” Sora spoke up. Riku sat up. That was something he didn’t remember hearing about before.

      “So wait, you moved out of your parent’s house at this age? How old are you?” Riku asked.

      “I’m eighteen. I told you yesterday! Pay attention, silly. I actually grew up in this house, by my family ended up moving with me to the other side of town, which isn’t that far, anyway.” Sora answered, sitting on the coffee table and looking towards Riku. It seemed like Sora was willing to answer questions, to which Sora was grateful for. “However, as I started getting older, I missed this house. My parents owned it, the entire house was paid off, and they didn’t sell it when they moved. They said they wanted a bigger house, but I love this house. It’s just....” Sora faltered before Riku spoke up.

      “Warm.”

      Sora leaned back slightly before looking towards Riku with a smile. “Yeah, it’s warm! Good one! It’s warm and comforting, despite looking like it’s from the 70s and the 80s.” Sora laughed, and Riku couldn’t help but smile either. At least Sora too knew about how old his house looked. “But yeah, I’m happy we didn’t sell it. I think my family didn’t sell it because I would move back. They must have known. Maybe the tarots told them, I’m not sure. But I’m happy that they didn’t sell it anyway. I love this house, and I couldn’t think of practicing and training anywhere else.” Sora spoke, looking around the living room with a whimsical look in his eyes.

      Riku looked down towards the photo in Sora’s hand before looking back up towards Sora once more. “Tell me about your family more, not about the house.” Riku brought up, and Sora looked down towards Riku with a smirk before sighing and looking ahead.

      “Well, you’re just a little pushy today, aren’t you?”  
      “I’m curious. I just...I want to know more about you.”  
      “Why?”

      Riku was caught off guard with that. He looked down before looking back up towards Sora with a shrug. “I just...want to know more, that’s all. You...fascinate me? But saying that makes you sound like an object, which you’re not. I just want to know more about my friends.” Riku concluded, hoping he didn’t sound like a bumbling idiot. Sora, after a few moments, gave Riku a smile and a nod before going back to thinking.

      “Well, my parents are interesting. My dad’s name is Tsuyomi, and he was originally born to a family of witches in Japan. His family moved here when he was only three. He works as a brain surgeon, and he’s very good at his job because when no one is looking, he can--obviously--perform miracles to patients who should have died. He uses his magic for good. My mom’s name is Eva, and she’s a lawyer. She’s able to win a case over while also using magical feats. She’s as American as they come though. She came from California, and this is where she’ll stay, probably. She met my dad in high school, and they’re high school sweethearts. It’s cheesy, but they lasted. I’m sure they mostly stuck around here because at the time, after graduation, I came into play shortly after.” Sora spoke, shrugging. Riku nodded, continuing to listen.

      “My mom was also from a family of witches, too. She lives with my dad, they’re still married, and they’re fantastic. They’re best friends still, and their dynamic is great. Have you ever heard of ‘couple goals’ or whatever?” Sora asked, and Riku nodded. “Well, they’re couple goals. I caught them dancing in the kitchen once to some cheesy love song. They’re both dorks.” Sora laughed. Riku smiled at that. It seemed like Sora’s family was still very silly, even after all this time. Riku’s family wasn’t like that anymore. His family, well, more like just his dad, really, was quite timid, quiet, didn’t seem to interact a lot. Riku wanted to meet Sora’s family now--they seemed like an interesting group to hang out with, and could easily describe why Sora was so vibrant and almost colorful in nature.

      “You seem to have a wonderful family. I wish my family was as fun as yours was.” Riku chuckled, looking towards his ankle before looking back towards Sora. “My family is so boring....” he muttered, and Sora leaned forward.

      “Well, tell me about your family, then.” Sora spoke up, and Riku looked down towards his legs, unsure of what to mention. Now that he thought about it, Riku’s family was so subpar when it came to Sora’s own. Sora’s own family was magical, amazing, and something fantastical. Riku’s family was uneventful, dull, and normal. There was nothing to really talk about, but looking at Sora, he ended up finding something just to keep Sora’s eyes on him.

      “My dad works at an office for the company Charleton. They dispense security systems for homes, you know? He works in the offices, and my mom doesn’t live with us anymore. She moved out eons ago because she said that she was having issues with Dad, but she didn’t explain what they were. Whatever the case may be, we don’t talk to her.” Riku shrugged. “She moved to the north of Cali, and I’m sure that’s where she’s going to stay.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. His family didn’t have any witches, or goblins, or anything else interesting unlike Sora’s family. His entire lineage was just boring humans with boring jobs. Even Riku himself was boring. However, Sora didn’t seem to think so.

      He shook his head and his smile grew. “Your family sounds really cool, actually. Your dad protects people and takes care of them, just like my dad!” Sora grinned. Riku really hadn’t thought about that, but he considered his father tiny in size when he was being compared to being a brain surgeon like Sora’s father. “Also, do you know anything else about your mom?” Sora asked, and Riku shrugged and cleared his throat. Apparently, Sora wasn’t very good in social situations, because he seemed to have no idea what not to say to someone about their deadbeat parent.

      “I really don’t know much else about her. All I know is that she just had a lot of issues with Dad, and that just meant she left. That’s what I remember Mom saying before she left. Dad doesn’t talk about her much.” Riku replied, keeping it short and sweet, but it seemed like Sora wanted to know more. Riku sighed again before speaking up once more. He never talked about his mother this long, so something like this was quite odd and unusual to him. “She left when I was really young, about nine or ten, and she just said that something was off with Dad. Any time I tried to bring it up, she would pat me on the head and just ignore what I asked. It’s the worst thing, to try and find something out as a kid and have nothing told to you.” Riku muttered. Sora rose an eyebrow before shifting around in his seat.

      “So she just left? That’s sad.” Sora muttered, looking down towards the ground before looking back up towards Riku. “I’m assuming your relationship with your dad isn’t all that great, either, huh?” he asked, and Riku tried to not glare at him. Sora really was an outcast; he didn’t know when to shut up about things that he shouldn’t talk about. However, Riku forgave the other--Sora didn’t have friends, didn’t know how to talk to people, didn’t know formalities when it came to conversation. So Riku forgave the other and shrugged again.

      “Not really. He’s an okay guy, but we’re not...close.” Riku replied, nodding upwards towards Sora’s photo, which Sora was still holding in his hand. Sora looked down towards the photo before looking back up towards Riku. “He’s super protective, too, always worried that I’ll end up doing something dumb or whatever.” Riku sighed, and Sora snickered before looking towards Riku with a raised eyebrow.

      “It seems like he’s right, however. I mean...you did trespass yesterday.” Sora snickered, and Riku sighed and deflated, rubbing the back of his head. Yeah, Sora did make a point. Riku wasn’t being the ideal son right now. Right now, even, he was sneaking out to go see Sora. Riku’s dad would be so disappointed right now; the silver-haired male almost felt bad...but being with Sora made him feel better. Riku looked up towards Sora again, his heart fluttering. Riku growled to himself, shuffling around to disguise the noise in his throat.

      “I guess you’re making sense. But what’s a young adult that listens to the rules?” Riku replied, and Sora laughed. Riku listened to Sora’s laugh, a small smile forming on his face. Sora didn’t even know it, but he was making Riku’s day so much better. Sora stood up and placed his picture back onto the shelf.

      Sora looked down towards the photo before looking back towards Riku, smiling gently. “So you’re not the good boy that you act like to your dad.” Sora teased, winking towards Riku, which made the silver-haired male’s cheeks burn a bright red. He looked away, pouting gently before hearing Sora laugh to himself. “That’s fine. Everyone’s got a bad-boy side to them anyway. I’m not judging you.” he replied with a snicker, and Riku gave a coy look towards Sora, giving him a small smile back.

      “Thanks for not doing so.” Riku whispered, sighing and leaning back on the sofa once more, looking up towards the ceiling, breathing steadily. He listened to Sora’s footsteps towards him, and Riku peeked his head up towards Sora, who was starting towards his ankle. “What are you doing?”

      “What do you mean ‘what are you doing’? I’m checking on it.” Sora laughed, and Riku shut up. Now he just felt like an idiot for even speaking. He looked off to the side, not looking towards Sora who was brushing up against his ankle with his fingers. “All right. We’re gonna put some warm water on it, since your ankle isn’t swelling up anymore.” Sora spoke, starting towards the kitchen.

      Riku’s eyes watched Sora wander towards the kitchen before clearing his throat. “Am I stopping you from eating?” Riku asked, noticing that the pot of pasta hadn’t been touched since Riku entered the house. Sora looked towards it before shaking his head.

      “Nope. I just wanna talk to you first. Is that bad?” Sora teased, and Riku gave a small smile before shaking his head. “Besides, pasta can wait. Learning about the bad boy on my sofa is more interesting.” he added, grabbing onto a colander under the sink.

      Riku wasn’t really paying attention, but when he looked over, he noticed something amazing. This had finally and truly cemented the fact that Sora was a witch. In front of his own eyes, he watched the pot of pasta float off the stove and dump into the colander while Sora moved to stir the sauce.

      “Holy shit.” Riku spoke quite bluntly, his eyes widening and his mouth opening out of just how stunned he was. He could hear Sora’s laugh from the kitchen, but he didn’t reply, probably just relishing in the fact that Riku was stunned by Sora’s magic.

      Once the pot had finished dumping the pasta out into the colander, it moved back towards an unused burner upon the back of the stove and Sora moved the pot of sauce onto a back burner as well, letting it cool. “All right, time for lunch...dinner? What time is it, Ree-koo?” Sora spoke, enunciating Riku’s name like that as he seemed to like to do.

      Riku pulled out his phone and glanced towards the time. “It’s about 3 o’clock. So I would say this is a late lunch.” Riku replied, and Sora hummed in retaliation before moving to grab onto two bowls, letting the sauce spoon stir the sauce itself as Sora moved away from the stove. “Oh my God....” Riku mused to himself, placing his head into his hands out of his mind feeling like it was going to explode.

      “You okay over there?” Sora asked, and Riku gave a grumble in retaliation. Riku looked up towards Sora, and he looked seriously concerned for a few moments before seeing Riku’s bemused smile, causing Sora to smile back. “I guess so. Just not used to magic?” Sora asked, and Riku gave an affirmative hum before leaning back on the sofa once more.

      “Meh. You’ll get used to it. I’m sure. Did you want cheese with your pasta?” Sora asked, and Riku nodded in reply when Sora looked back to see if Riku would even say something. Sora smiled before grabbing onto the cheese out of the fridge like a normal person and placing it on the counter.

      Sora scooped some pasta into a bowl, put some sauce on it, dumped more cheese onto it than anyone would ever need in their life, and walked over towards Riku, moving to put it in his lap. “If it’s hot, you can put a pillow on your lap.” Sora smiled, and Riku nodded before looking towards the pasta. There was nothing to eat it with. To play a small game, he would wait until Sora noticed that he had forgotten to hand him a fork or spoon.

      Sora walked back and grabbed his own bowl of pasta, doing the same thing—however, he managed to get _himself_ a spoon and moved to sit down on the floor in front of Riku, nestled between the coffee table and the couch. Sora has no issue digging right in and starting to talk. “Is it good?” Sora asked, and Riku nodded.

      “Yeah, it's pretty good.” Riku replied, trying hide his own amusement to Sora’s forgetfulness.

      “Ah, I'm happy you like it! It’s my own mom’s recipe. She’s pretty talented, isn’t she?”  
      “Yup.”

      Sora looked up towards Riku with a smile before going back to his bowl. Riku had to hold back a loud bark of laughter as Sora’s sight apparently wasn’t working today. “So, you came back because you missed me?” Sora asked, smiling cheekily, and Riku nodded. Fine, since Sora just wanted a confession.

      “Yeah, I guess I did. I like your house—it’s better than mine. My house is just really...boring. I don’t have any siblings or anything.” Riku spoke, looking down towards the pasta, which was still steaming. Riku smiled at it before looking back towards Sora again. “So any time my dad goes to work, that’s it. I’m alone for the rest of the day.” he sighed, and Sora looked up towards Riku, giving him a frown.

      “Wait, you basically live alone too? How do you survive?” Sora asked, and Riku shrugged before exhaling and leaning back.

      “Well, I’m assuming you mean ‘survive’ by meaning ‘how do I deal with it’?” Riku asked, and Sora nodded. “I go over to Hayner’s house, usually. I sometimes go over to my friend Kairi’s house, too. She’s about to graduate, so I help her study for finals. She’s a year below me, eighteen, and she’s already doing better than I am in every aspect.” Riku snorted. “Kairi’s got a full-blown scholarship to the community college, and she’s even got a job there already because her mom knows a guy who knows a guy.” Riku concluded, and he looked towards Sora who gave a sad hum.

      “Sorry. It always does really stink to watch someone really succeed where you don’t.” Sora replied, and Riku shrugged before looking back towards his pasta. “Hey...you haven’t eaten yet!” Sora finally spoke up, and Riku looked towards Sora with a cheeky smile before placing both hands up and wiggling his fingers. Sora’s face dropped. “Oh my God. Oh my God I am so sorry. Hold on a second!”

      Sora stood right up and dashed to the kitchen, and Riku had to do his best to not laugh as he watched Sora run to the utensil drawer. “Why didn’t you tell me that you didn’t have a spoon?” Sora squeaked, and Riku did his best not to laugh at Sora’s voice crack, either.

      “Because I wanted to see how long you would notice.” Riku replied, and he could hear Sora’s own loud groan from the kitchen as the other walked back, spoon in hand. “Thank you, Sora.”

      “Yeah yeah.” Sora grumbled, sitting back on the floor, pouting. Riku chuckled softly, and they ate their late lunch in silence. Riku couldn’t help but admit to himself that he was happy to be here.


	3. A Magic Lesson and The Upstairs

“So, how can you manage to do magic on the fly?” Riku asked after Sora had finished cleaning everything. Sora, from the kitchen, looked over his shoulder as he moved around the kitchen, dealing with the dishes and the pasta. Well, it was really more like the dishes were cleaning themselves, and Sora was placing the pasta in containers that looked suspiciously similar to Chinese takeout containers.

“How can I manage to do magic...on the fly? It’s simple. I want it to do something, and I do it. It wasn’t that easy though when I was younger, though.” Sora spoke, placing the last of the pasta into the containers and covering them with lids. “When I was younger, first learning, I needed to use my finger as a point of focus. Heck, if I need to do three things at a time, I usually still have to.” Sora mumbled, fidgeting with one last lid that didn’t seem to be cooperating.

“For something like these dishes, and not just moving one thing on its own, I usually use small spells. I whisper them, and they end up working. Like, for example:

“Make the dishes free of fat and lean,  
Have the sponge make the glass clean.”

Sora didn’t speak up, but Riku hummed in acknowledgement before nodding slowly. “That’s interesting. I didn’t know there were so many mechanics that went into it.” Riku replied, and Sora gave a happy hum before clearly struggling with putting on the last tupperware lid. Riku sighed before patting any part of the couch cushion that he could. “Come over here, I’ll do it.”

“N-No...I’ve got it!” he grunted from the kitchen, and Riku rose an eyebrow before hearing Sora’s loud sigh. “All right fine.” he grumbled, moving back towards Riku, walking and sounding exasperated. “Here. If you can do it, I’ll let you come here as many times as you want.” Sora pouted, and Riku smiled before taking the lid, looking it over, and smiling before popping it into place.

Sora gave an even _louder_ groan before yanking the container out of Riku’s hand and storming off to the sink. “Don’t get too upset. Don’t want your magic to drop those dishes.” Riku teased, and Sora gave what sounded like another hissy fit before placing the multiple containers into the fridge.

Riku watched the other carefully, learning Sora’s patterns as he grumbled around the room. Just from being watchful, Riku could already tell that Sora wasn’t one for being angry, and was known for being over-exuberant in his actions. All-in-all, it seemed like Sora was just over exaggerating for the sake of making Riku smile. The silver-haired boy couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

Riku wasn’t one to say it to someone outloud, but he has to admit that watching Sora’s abilities really was impressive. Despite Sora being an overall, well, _dope,_ he was still able to concentrate with his magic and make it work to his favor.

“Hey, do you ever wonder if humans can do magic?” Riku asked, and Sora walked over towards Riku’s ankle, checking it carefully before standing back up taller, head tilted to the side and his eyebrows furrowed upon his forehead.

“Riku, don't think that I’m not human, I am.” Sora spoke, and Riku blinked at that reply.

“Of...course. I just wanted to know if someone who didn’t have any witch blood in them could learn magic like you can.” Riku added, looking off to the side. The longer he talked, the most stupid he felt, and Riku was once more willing for the sofa to swallow him whole.

Sora seemed taken aback at the question, his eyes wide. “Wait, you mean...normal people? Like you?” he asked, almost like he wanted to make sure. Riku looked around, wondering if Sora could somehow be hearing something else. The only thing that was active was the fountain outside, burbling softy.

“Yes, me. I was just curious. I don’t want to learn magic—I don’t think I could take the stress, but I was just curious. It seems really cool, and someone had to be the first witch after all.” Riku propositioned, and Sora blinked before placing a hand on his chin, wondering alongside Riku. It seems like Riku had made a reasonable statement.

Sora looked towards Riku, almost looking quite sad as he looked off to the side again, as if looking towards Riku would only cause Riku to be filled with grief. “I...don’t think so, Riku. Sorry.” Sora whispered, and Riku shrugged.

“That’s fine. Just makes you more special.” Riku spoke, this time playfully winking towards Sora, giving the brunet a taste of his own medicine. Sora seemed to halt, making Riku have a mental celebration all while keeping his cool.

Sora briskly turned around and started up the stairs. “I’m going to go see where Mixer ran off to. He’s not really an outdoor cat so I have no idea where he could have gone.” he spoke quickly, starting up the stairs. Riku took mental note that Sora was easy to fluster, snickering quietly into his hand as Sora leapt up the stairs like a man who wanted off the stage after singing most of the notes wrong.

Riku leaned back against the arm of the sofa before finally moving his leg off from being propped up on the other arm, taking a deep breath and grabbing his leg. He moved it off, looking at it better. True to Sora’s word, his swollen ankle seemed to be looking better and better every hour. Riku couldn’t believe it still—his brain kept on telling him otherwise that Sora’s abilities couldn’t be real.

But there was already loads of proof. The sauce stirring itself, the pasta pouring itself; this was nothing that Riku was used to. He wasn’t sure what to think.

He started to hear loud meowing upstairs, and then Mixer dashing down the stairs. Riku’s breathing halted as Mixer ran towards him. Sure, Mixer was a cat, but he was a big house cat. Riku, in his ever-growing curiosity, had researched last night about what type of cat Mixer was, and he had come to the conclusion that Mixer was a Savannah house cat, which was a massive cat and most grew to be the size of big dogs.

Mixer leapt up next to Riku, squishing the floral cushioning on the sofa basically flat, and Mixer just stared at him. “Hello, Mixer.” Riku almost cooed, unable to help but smile towards the cat, who let Riku give him scratchies behind the ears. Mixer seemed to meow back, closing his eyes slowly as he let Riku pet him. Mixer didn’t reply, he was pretty sure that Mixer couldn’t, at least to him, but that didn’t bother Riku all that much.

Mixer got up from the sofa after a few moments and started towards yet another photo on the shelf. Riku chuckled at that. That was such an odd thing for Mixer to do. Perhaps it was just a habit. Maybe he liked the photos? Riku wondered if he should even apply logic to this household; Riku was quite a logical thinker, but in this house, all logic was lost. Perhaps Mixer was just...smarter than most cats?

Mixer placed a photo of Sora in Riku’s lap. This time, instead of the photo being of Sora and his family, it was just Sora, a candid shot, it seemed, of Sora sitting on the front steps of the house and looking off towards nowhere, a vacant stare in his eyes, but also something...mysterious. Riku couldn’t place it. To be honest, though, he couldn’t place much in this household. It was just so odd.

“What about this photo, Mixer?” Riku asked, and Mixer pushed the photo towards Riku’s hands again. Riku picked it up and looked at the photo closer, but there was nothing there. Riku looked back up towards Mixer with a raised eyebrow before looking back towards Sora, who was starting down the stairs. “Your cat likes giving me photos of you. I think he’s proud of you.” Riku spoke, and the cat meowed towards Sora before hopping off of the sofa and starting towards the kitchen.

“Mixer says that’s not true.” Sora replied, moving over towards Riku to see what photo he was holding. “Oh! That’s when I first got my house! Well, I mean...when I first inherited the house. My parents had just moved across town, but I had to come back here, you know?” Sora spoke, looking wistfully towards the photo. Riku chuckled before handing the photo back towards Sora, giving him a small smile.

Riku wished that he could have his own house one day, but he was sure that would be a long time off. Riku had too many issues looking for a job, a house was nowhere in his future. “You seem to have some sort of nostalgic look towards it., as if you’re not living in this house right now.” Riku spoke, and Sora laughed.

“Oh don’t worry, I am living here. Duh. I just...remember the good ‘ol days, I guess, of not worrying.”

Riku blinked, sitting up a little bit straighter. What did that mean? “Worrying? About what?” he asked, wanting to make sure that the boy in front of him was okay. Sora looked towards Riku before clearing his throat and shaking his head, starting back towards the shelf that the photo had come from and putting the picture back. Sora looked towards the photo for a few more moments.

“I guess my tongue slipped.” Sora whispered, looking down. Riku didn’t reply. Instead, if Sora wanted to say something, he would let him do so. Riku didn’t want to be that person that forced Sora to say something about the issue. Riku had already gained Sora’s trust enough to let Sora do his magic in front of him (and in such a short time, no less!), so Riku wasn’t going to ruin that now by pestering. However, Sora looked back towards Riku and sighed. “There’s someone in town. A dark presence. My family and I aren’t sure who it is...but there’s a bad witch around here, and he’s been here for a while, causing chaos and stuff.” Sora spoke up, and Riku blinked at that.

Was Sora talking about a demon? “A bad witch? Isn’t that just a demon?” Riku asked, and Sora shook his head before turning around. Sora started towards the sofa, sitting next to Riku. He leaned against the back of the sofa, resting there for a few moments before replying once more.

“We don’t really believe in demons...well, the way most people do. We believe in negative energies...but that’s neither here nor there. This guy isn’t a demon; he’s an actual human witch, a practicer of the dark arts. See, I’m a white witch, and I practice positive magic. I’m here to make sure that people are safe and happy, and I channel my energies in positive ways. I don’t hex or curse people. I don’t think I ever could, actually. I just really like making people happy, you know?” Sora spoke up, looking back towards Riku before looking towards his leg. “When did you move it?”

Riku rolled his eyes before responding, ignoring the fact that Sora seemed to want to change the topic. Riku wasn’t going to pull the topic in that direction any longer. “I moved my leg when you went upstairs.” he spoke, and Sora huffed gently before moving forward to look it over. “It looks good, Sora. You did a good job with it.” Riku added, and Sora looked up towards Riku for a few moments before looking back towards the leg once more. Sora sat up and placed his hands upon his hips.

“I know I did a good job with it. Just look at it.” he spoke, bragging as he stood up and started towards the kitchen once more. “So, how long can you stay here?” Sora asked, looking back towards Riku. Riku thought about it, head down as he thought. His father would be getting home at nighttime, so Riku was okay for now.

“I should be able to stay until...probably around eight. I should get home around then.” Riku replied, and Sora’s eyes brightened wide and he started bouncing on his toes. Riku rose an eyebrow, amused by how excited Sora seemed about this entire plan of Riku just staying until the night. “You seem really happy about this revelation.” Riku mumbled, and Sora nodded.

“I am! I’m really happy, actually! I’ve got a great idea! I wanna show you some of my spells! I usually practice upstairs, but you can’t go upstairs, so instead I’ll bring a spellbook down here and show you some of the cooler things that I can do!” Sora spoke. “I’m...kinda excited to show off to a non-witch.” he whispered, his face turning a light pink. Riku had remembered that Sora mentioned having little to no friends, so Riku would entertain the idea of watching Sora practice some magic in the meantime.

The brunet rushed up the stairs, almost tripping as he turned the corner to head up, and Riku rolled his eyes with a soft smile before leaning back on the sofa once more. Mixer moved to sit next to him, meowing up towards Riku. “Mixer, I can’t understand a meow you’re...meowing.” Riku muttered, shutting up when he realized that he sounded like a high-class moron.

Mixer looked away before meowing loudly towards the steps, hearing Sora bumble around upstairs before practically leaping down the stairs, laughing and moving to sit next to Riku. The book that Sora was carrying was massive, almost the size of Sora’s chest lengthwise, and was a beautiful purple color. It had some sort of pentacle on it, and looked old. The book itself was quite a thick size, as if it was filled with all sort of knowledge. “Is this your spellbook?” Riku asked, and Sora nodded.

“Yeah. This is called a grimoire, and is _not_ called a Book of Shadows. Everyone gets those two confused, but there’s a reeeeally big difference.” Sora spoke, and Riku’s head tilted to the side. He had heard the term Book of Shadows before, but that was only in a TV show once.

“Book of Shadows? What’s the difference between that and a grimoire?” Riku asked, and Sora opened up the book. The pages looked old and weathered--something told Riku that this book was ancient, and was probably passed down in his family.

“A Book of Shadows is almost like, a diary of sorts. You write things in it, but you don’t have to write just spells in it. A grimoire is just spells. For example, a Book of Shadows can mention what types of herbs are used for what spells, or what they can do. There’s an entire herb section in my Book of Shadows upstairs. However, this grim only has working spells.” Sora added, flipping through a few pages. “I’ve been trying to perfect one spell, but it’s really hard.”

Riku looked towards the page, sitting up. “...Anti-Acne?” Riku spoke, his eyebrows shooting up into his hairline. He wasn’t expecting that. Sora looked towards Riku, almost offended at Riku’s tone.

“I’ve got horrible acne on my forehead! Look!” Sora pouted, lifting up his bangs. Sure enough, Sora did seem to have acne there, but it wasn’t as bad as Sora seemed to be making it. “I don’t want it anymore. It’s so gross and makes me ugly.” Placing the bangs down, Sora looked towards the page, huffing to himself. “I’ve tried this spell multiple times, but it’s just...not working.”

“Maybe you should just try...washing your face?”  
“I _do!_ It just doesn’t go away! I never really cared about it before but...I’m a growing man, and I’m looking to be....”

Sora looked off to the side before looking back towards Riku. “I guess I just want to be...good looking? There’s people that show up at the store, and I think they’re really cute. A few witches (people who just practice the Wiccan faith, I’m sure, no one like _me_ ) show up and...and I just really think they’re cute. I don’t think they would ever find me cute, though.” Sora mumbled, huffing. “So I’m starting to try and get myself in order. You know, looking handsome.”

Riku absolutely had to clamp his mouth shut to avoid saying that he already thought Sora was the cutest thing in this entire town, and managed to do so by looking towards the spellbook and reading it silently to himself. “So what you need is...just to recite this?” he asked, and Sora shook his head.

“I should also probably get some stuff for it. Read on the bottom, see? I have the ingredients all listed there. Well, I didn’t list them. Some other teenager in my family years before did.” Sora spoke, standing up and starting towards his kitchen. Riku followed with his eyes, annoyed that he couldn’t properly follow due to his ankle healing. Riku’s eyes shifted up towards the stairs. Riku was so curious about the upstairs. He wondered what was up there. Probably Sora’s alter (most witches had stuff like that, right?), maybe the bathroom (there wasn’t one down here), and--wait.

“Hey, Sora, question. Where’s your bathroom around here?” Riku asked, looking towards Sora, who was now on top of the counter, reaching for something. Riku refused to snort at that, instead letting Sora reply. The brunet looked over his shoulder, head tilted to the side like a confused puppy.

“The bathroom?”  
“Yeah. The toilet. The loo. The water closet. Th--”  
“Who calls it a water closet?”  
“Um...I’m not really sure.”  
“Huh. Okay. Anyway, it’s upstairs. Let me help you.”

Sora clambered off of the counter and started towards Riku, holding his hand out towards the other. “Grab my hand. I’ll get you up there.” he offered, and Riku took that hand. He was...holding hands with Sora. Oh God. Riku mentally smashed his face into a wall in hopes to try and stop the blushing and the cutesy feelings, letting Sora bring Riku’s arm around the back of his neck. “Are you stable?” Sora asked, and Riku nodded.

Sora started Riku towards the stairs, helping the other limp up carefully. “Just be careful, all right? Don’t feel like you have to rush...even though you’ve gotta go the bathroom.” he spoke, chuckling gently. Riku nodded as he paid attention to his lame left foot, lifting it and giving it little-to-no pressure as he ascended. Once they finally made it upstairs, Riku instantly looked around.

This part of the house seemed to hold a lot less floral to it, which Riku was eternally grateful of. In fact, the entire second-story seemed pale in comparison. Instead of the loud floral wallpaper that downstairs had, there was no wallpaper here, and instead there was just a bland white painted wall, with cream linings along the top and bottom of the walls. Even the carpet was a boring cream color. However, there were still house plants everywhere upstairs. “You have...so many plants.” Riku muttered, and Sora laughed.

“Well, yeah, I’m a witch. I’ve gotta have them for spells and stuff. I usually end up drying the leaves that I’ve picked and then put them in vials in my kitchen.” Sora replied, helping pull Riku along towards the bathroom. Riku took this opportunity to look into rooms with open doors. One room was pure and clean and nice, the bed seemed to be made, and looked pretty boring--there wasn’t much in there. That had to be the guest bedroom.

Continuing down the hallway, Riku spotted what must have been an office. This office was also filled with plants, and was filled with crystals and gems, shining brightly as they hung from the ceiling. Riku almost stopped to take a look around but instead kept on going. He didn’t want to look like a creep. “Okay, bathroom is on the left right up here.” Sora broke Riku out of his trance, and Riku glanced towards the left-hand side of the hallway, the only room on that side. “If you need anything, let me know. I’ll be right back downstairs to go grab something but I promise that I’ll be right up.” Sora promised, leading Riku into the bathroom so that Riku could grab onto the sink edge.

Sora gave Riku a quick nod before closing the bathroom door behind him. He could hear Sora walk away, and with that, Riku looked around the bathroom. This bathroom was clearly from the 70s. No floral, but had that nasty tan color to it that just looked disgusting. “This bathroom needs an upgrade.” Riku muttered to himself. Riku didn’t have to go to the bathroom, but he might as well since he was here.

After finishing up, Riku washed his hands and carefully walked towards the door, noticing that his pain wasn’t as bad as it was this morning. He opened the door, expecting Sora to be there, but he wasn’t. Riku narrowed his brows before slowly hobbling out. “Sora...?” he whispered, hearing the moving of air, as if Sora had left all the windows and the doors wide open. Riku grumbled to himself, annoyed that Sora seemed to be practicing magic without him there. Didn’t Sora want Riku to see; that’s what Sora had said, hadn’t he?

Riku started down the stairs, slowly slinking down, but halted when he turned the corner. Sora was sitting there, cross-legged, hovering, his back towards him. A pink glow surrounded him.

Riku almost fainted dead on the spot.


	4. An Extra Meal and The Fixed Ankle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I uploaded this in the middle of my Abnormal Psychology class while learning about pyromania. Funnily enough, Lea shows up in the next chapter.

      There was a circle made of what could possibly be charcoal surrounding Sora, and he continued to shine vibrantly as Riku cautiously moved towards him, using the wall to help stable himself.

      Riku himself had seen and read from books that stopping a witch from doing their practices would just ruin what they were doing, so Riku didn’t stop him at all...for a few moments. However, Riku was growing concerned that Sora was somehow stuck, like a bad video game glitch, and decided to call out towards the boy. “Hey, Sora?”

      Sora’s aura started to fade, and Sora landed upon the ground ungracefully, spinning around, his eyes wide. Riku looked towards Sora’s eyes, noticing that they had some sort of ethereal pink glow towards them that was starting to fade as well. “You um...good?” Riku asked, and Sora blinked before looking down towards his circle. “I won’t walk in, I know that’s important, isn’t it?” Riku asked, nodding upwards.

      “Yeah, I have to open it for you to come inside. I’ll just...close it. Stay there.” Sora spoke, standing up and brushing the back of his pants off. He looked up towards the sky before bowing his head.

      “I apologize for the sudden stop of energy flow, Goddess and God. I thank you for taking the time to be here with me. I thank the Lord, the Lady, and the Elements.” Sora spoke up, and then walked counterclockwise in the circle before holding his hand out towards the charcoal.

      “The spell is done  
      It is all whole  
      Make the room clean  
      Remove the charcoal.”

      Suddenly, the charcoal on the ground began to fizzle and pop, causing Riku to take a few steps back. Once the fizzling died down, the charcoal was gone, and Sora looked up towards Riku with an embarrassed smile. “Uh, sorry you had to see that.” he mumbled. Riku rose an eyebrow.

      “I thought you wanted me here. That looked a little bit more extravagant then just getting rid of some facial bumps.” Riku spoke, and Sora’s face turned a deep shade of pink. This was clearly something that Sora didn’t want to talk about, but Riku was going to goad him on this. “Is everything okay?” Riku asked, and Sora shrugged.

      “It’s just...something that I do for myself. It’s a strong spell, but I just want it to...happen soon. I know I’m not supposed to rush magic, or well, the results, but I just...I just want it to happen so badly, you know?” Sora muttered, and Riku sighed.

      “I’m not a witch and something inside my bones just tell me that that’s a bad idea.” Riku chuckled, trying to get Sora to smile. Sora looked up towards him, giving him an attempt at a smile. It was good enough for Riku. At least he was trying. “You’re fine, Sora, I’m sure. What was that about, anyway? What spell was it?” Riku asked, and Sora looked off to the side.

      “It was...a type of spell...that uh...does things. Yup. Anyway, come, let’s get to the spell at hand.” Sora spoke, marching towards the sofa. Riku heard a small meow, and looked towards Mixer, who shook his head and placed a paw to his snout, his head tilted downwards, and his eyes closed, as if he was facepalming and also tired of Sora’s actions.

      Riku snickered before starting towards the sofa. “Stop making friends with Riku. I don’t want two voices coming at me for my mistakes. I’ve already got you doing it.” Sora mumbled towards Mixer, and a loud meow came from Mixer’s snout. “Shut it before I put you in my room.”

      Riku sat down and managed to get a peak at the spell that Sora was doing. “Was that something for a love spell I just saw?” Riku asked, and Sora gave a loud shriek and slammed the book shut. He narrowed his eyes towards Riku, who was doing his best to hide back his laughter, but even with all of Riku’s strength, he wasn’t able to. “I’m sorry I just...why do you want to be with someone so badly? All relationships do is just cause trouble. My friends just end up dating and then getting upset at each other, especially around this age.” Riku spoke, and Sora looked down towards the book that he was now grasping to his chest.

      “I guess...I just guess that I’m lonely. I have no one, Riku—well, maybe two coworkers I can talk to, and yeah my parents too, but that’s all.” Sora muttered, and there was silence between both boys. Sora was silent, but Riku couldn’t even think of what Sora was pondering. He looked afraid, like he had just told Riku the biggest secret in the world. Riku wasn’t sure what to do. He had just met Sora, but it seemed like the witch was still willing to spill his guts out to someone who was basically a stranger.

      Riku had been right—Sora didn’t know how to talk to people at all.

      Riku looked towards Sora before scooting forward. Riku wasn’t one to give hugs, but Sora looked like he needed one, so he gave Sora a one-armed hug before backing up and giving Sora a pat on the head.

      “You’ll find someone to love in time, I’m sure about it.” Riku spoke, and Sora gave a small smile towards Riku before standing up. “Besides, you’re not as lonely as you used to be. I’m...your friend now, aren’t I? I may not be the love of your life that you’re looking for, but, I’m still here to talk to you.” he asked, his face turning a light pink. Talking about being the love of Sora’s life made Riku’s heart flutter, but Riku would never confess that.

      Sora’s eyes lit up, and he nodded in reply. “Yeah yeah! Buuuuut, I think we’re done with magic for today. I’m tired after doing that. I didn’t think that would be so much energy.” Sora whispered, chuckling at himself. Riku nodded up towards the stairs.

      “Then you can go lay down and take a rest. I can head home if y--”  
      “No! No, you don’t have to go anywhere! I like that you’re here. You don’t have to go anywhere.”

      Riku halted at that, blinking a few times before looking down, noticing that Sora was grabbing onto his arm. “I really am lonely, and with you here, I feel something that I haven’t felt in a really long time. I feel happy and...not so sad anymore. Can you stay here for just a little bit longer?” Riku blinked down towards the connected arms, Riku’s face turning a light pink. Sora pulled his hand back. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have grabbed onto you.” he whispered.

      Riku gave a small sigh and ran his hands through his hair. “All right, I’ll stay for a little bit longer.” he spoke, smiling towards Sora, whose eyes brightened again.

      “You will?”  
      “Yeah, suuuuure.”  
      “Thank you!”

      Sora smiled before properly hugging Riku, giving him what could only be considered a tackle-hug, causing Riku to stabilize himself carefully as he let the brunet cling onto him like some sort of sloth. Riku was even moved side-to-side, and Riku just sat there and took the sway. He looked down towards Sora, giving Sora another pat on the head. Sora seemed so happy where he was. Riku hummed before pulling away. “All right, I’ll stay, buuuut you’ve gotta feed me dinner if you want me staying that long.”

      Sora’s eyes widened. Apparently, Sora wasn’t thinking about that. “I uh, was expecting you to go home in only an hour or so, I didn’t think you would stay for dinner.” Sora spoke, and it was Riku’s turn to blush. Why did Riku think that Sora would want him for that long? Well, then again, Riku had reason. Sora literally just confessed his guts to Riku about how lonely he was.

      “It’s uh...up to you, I guess.” Riku mumbled, rubbing the back of his head and looking off to the side. Sora laughed before standing up, placing both hands upon his hips.

      “Well then, maybe I’ll give you something to take home! That way, you’re not late for going back home, and you can eat something anyway!” Sora spoke, smiling. “It’ll look like someone, like uh...Pence, I think his name was?...gave you something so that you didn’t have to cook. Smart, right?”

      Riku did have to admit that the idea was tempting—he wouldn’t say no to an easy meal, especially not with his ankle, which was starting to honestly feel loads better but...a meal he didn’t have to cook? “Sounds like a good idea.” Riku spoke, and Sora winked towards Riku and gave him finger guns.

      “All right! Let’s get you some food. I know we just ate, but still. I might as well start!” Sora spoke, rushing towards the kitchen. Riku snickered at Sora’s hustle. It seemed like the other was excited to cook, actually. Sora has a sort of glow to him, but Riku couldn’t really pin it. In that moment of happiness, Sora seemed to be vibrant; so magical that Riku couldn’t tear his eyes away.

      “You really like to cook, huh?” Riku asked, and Sora blinked before shaking his head. He looked back towards Riku before pausing, a small smile forming upon his face shortly after.

      “You know what, no. I don’t actually like cooking very much. I guess I just want to impress you!” Sora replied, a smile growing upon his face as he started laughing and going back to fixing the dinner that he was planning to send Riku home with. Riku smiled as the witch went back to work in the kitchen.

      “What are you thinking of cooking?” Riku asked, but Sora didn’t reply for a few moments. It seemed like Sora was still pulling out stuff. However, Riku was starting to notice that there was cream involved, along with pre-cut leeks, scallions, and some tiny pieces of cut chicken.

      “We got the pasta—we might as well use it!” Sora replied, grinning towards everything and starting to grab onto another pot, heating up just the pot. He then moved to pour the cream in, along with the leeks, scallions, and chicken.

      Sora turned towards Riku, dusting his hands off. Sora hadn’t done much, but apparently, Sora seemed pleased with himself. “All done! Prep is a-go!” he smiled walking towards Riku and moving his fingers to gently wave towards Riku.

      Riku gave a small laugh before leaning back on the sofa once more. “Thank you, Sora. For taking care of me. Most people don’t take care of trespassers.” Riku spoke. Sora looked up from the pan before laughing.

      “Oh they take care of them—just in a way that involves the police and some jail time.” Sora replied, and Riku chuffed in reply. Yeah, that was accurate. Riku couldn’t be all that mad. “You walked onto my property without a single issue though, so I knew you weren’t here to rob me or kick my butt.”

      Riku didn’t even realize it until he could feel his cheeks starting to hurt that he had been smiling most of the conversation. Sora was just so adorable that Riku couldn’t help but have the smile on his face constantly. The smell of whatever Sora was cooking hit Riku’s nose at that moment, and Riku took a deep intake of the scent. It smelled really, really good!

      “That’s delicious.” Riku brought up, and Sora looked towards Riku before looking back towards the kitchen, hearing the food sizzle in the pan. Sora looked back towards Riku and smiled. He stood up and started to talk.

      “Thank you! It’s cream, leeks...pasta...chicken and some other stuff.” Sora spoke, moving back towards the swollen ankle. Sora swiveled Riku on the sofa, having Riku lay across the sofa again. Riku’s eyes widened, surprised by the strength that Sora seemed to suddenly have. Sora moved to pull back Riku’s pant leg, checking it out.

      “Okay so...from what I’m getting here, it’s no longer swollen, but you’ll probably still have some pain. Here.” Sora spoke, motioning for Riku to sit up and take a proper look at his ankle. Riku’s eyes widened again, and his jaw dropped. True to Sora’s word, Riku’s swollen ankle was no longer swollen, and it only took two days (not even!).

      “Thank you, Sora.” Riku whispered, and Sora smiled. When Sora looked up towards him, a smile upon his face, Riku’s entire body grew hot. Sora was...too cute! Riku looked down, hoping that Sora didn’t notice Riku’s sudden interest in the sofa.

      “No problem. The swelling is down, which is what most people want. You’re still gonna be suffering some pain when you walk, but this is probably better than it was this morning.” Sora spoke. Riku wondered just how powerful Sora was that he could do this so fast. Riku didn’t feel any pain anymore when he was just laying down, but he was still nervous about standing up.

      “Okay, so...to test. I want you to walk.” Sora spoke, patting Riku’s calf and standing up. He held his hand out towards Riku, and Riku’s body moved on instinct to grab onto Sora’s hand. He was pulled up off of the sofa, and Sora blinked as Riku stood up properly on one leg.

      “You’re massive.”  
      “...Huh?”  
      “You’re a giant. Tall. Gigundo. You know.”  
      “Gi...gundo?”

      Sora looked Riku up and down, and Riku caught that. Riku’s face turned a light pink, and he looked off to the side. Sora did something similar, clearing his throat before taking a step back. “Follow me. Be sure to step on your bad foot—but gently. This is to see the limits of what the oils and energy I’ve given it have done. Left one, right?”

      Riku nodded as he followed, being careful with his left foot. Sure, his ankle ached...but it was better than anything else he would have actually been feeling at the time if Sora hadn’t taken care of it. Riku looked towards Sora, chuckling. “Look at that. Witch works miracles.”

      Sora snickered at that. “Oh...oh c’mon. It’s just basic magic and essential oils.” he spoke, starting to bring Riku towards the kitchen. Riku followed Sora slowly, watching his footing so he didn’t stumble and trip, nor step on Sora’s feet, which would have been embarrassing. “You’re doing amazing.” Sora added.

      “You _did_ amazing. This was really good of you. Thank you very much.” Riku replied, keeping an eye on his feet. However, finally looking up resulted in him noticing he was getting close to the counter. Riku pulled away from Sora, and Sora let Riku lean against the counter. Riku laughed and shook his ankle. “This is phenomenal.”

      Sora laughed before leaning his elbow on the counter, eyes soft as he looked up towards Riku. Riku looked back into the blue eyes that Sora had, unable to look away. They were so pretty.... Riku mentally smacked himself; he had to stop doing that! It was just too awkward, and if he did it really badly and obviously, Riku would be caught. He didn’t want to scare Sora away—nor look like a creep. Riku was never like this. It was so odd to him, Riku couldn’t imagine a last time he was like this.

      Sora held his arms out towards Riku, and Riku grabbed onto his arms before being gently led back to the couch. Riku was walking slowly, but he was walking quite good now. Riku was thrilled at the power that Sora could hold. “Thank you for everything.” he whispered. Sora laughed as he helped Riku sit down.

      “Thank _you_ for giving me someone to talk to again.” Sora chuckled, trying to avoid how awkward that sounded. Riku gave Sora a small noogie on the head before shaking his head, laughing alongside him.

      Riku gave Sora his best soft eyes, like Sora could do. “Well, you gave me something to smile about. I’ve been having a quarter-life crisis, I guess, these past few months.” Riku confessed, chuckling. Sora snorted before shaking his head.

      They sat in silence for a few moments before he stood up and moved towards the kitchen, grabbing the spoon and starting to stir the pasta. Riku, once more, watched him in silence, looking the other up and down. Oh man, Riku was crushing really, really hard. This was just so embarrassing. Riku pushed his face into the back sofa cushion, trying to not die of humiliation.

      He heard footsteps, and Riku looked up to see Sora wandering back, a tub of the food in his hand. He gave a wave towards Riku, a smile still upon his face. “There we go. It’s just a quick meal that I make myself—it’s nothing major or anything like that. I hope you think it’s good.” Sora replied, smiling as he sat next to Riku, flopping onto the sofa and relaxing. He placed the food on Riku’s lap, and Riku looked it over before giving Sora a playful eye.

      “I like your cooking. You’re not bad at it.” Riku replied, looking over his ankle before rolling his eyes and elbowing Sora gently. Sora laughed before shrugging.

      “Well, it’s a lot of boring and bland stuff.”  
      “Leeks, cream, and pasta isn’t boring or bland. I’ve never had it. I can’t wait to try it.”

      Sora didn’t say much, but instead glanced towards the backdoor, near the edge of the counter in the kitchen. “You know, I’m happy you came here.” he whispered. Riku followed Sora’s gaze. Seemed like the other didn’t want to be seen, because nothing was interesting over there.

      “I’m happy I showed up here, too.”

      Sora took a deep breath before standing up and turning towards Riku. “All right, Riku. Let’s get you home.” he smiled. Riku looked up towards Sora and stood to follow the other. “Grab your crutches. You probably won’t need them anymore, but still. Can’t have you suddenly losing them and having your dad wonder how you lost them.” Sora laughed.

      Riku picked up the crutches and, only using one this time to help support his left leg just a little bit more, Riku started towards the door—crutches in one hand, the tupperware in the other. “Thank you, Sora, for everything that you’ve done.” Riku thanked once more. Sora gave a small laugh as he opened up the door for the other.

      “It’s not a problem, and won’t be.” Riku moved out of the front door, turning back towards Sora, who was leaning against the doorframe. “Don’t be a stranger, now. Come back some time.” he whispered, as if Sora was embarrassed to confess that he wanted to be friends with Riku.

      “I’ll be baaaaack,” a pause as Riku thought when he was free, “tomorrow?” Sadly, Sora shook his head.

      “I’ve actually gotta work tomorrow. Bummer, huh? But if you wanna help save me from my boredom, you can always come to My Fair Lady. It’s in town, near the port. I’ll be there all day tomorrow, opening and closing. Coworker’s got family stuff. Yaaaaay.” Sora spoke that last line with the most monotone voice that Riku had ever heard from him, causing Riku to laugh.

      “Okay then, it’s a date. If Dad lets me out, anyway.”  
      “If you can’t be there, then I’ll blame your dad; and did you just call this a date?”

      Riku blinked and his face turned a deep shade of red. Ah, shit, he had been caught. Sora laughed, shaking his head. “Go on, I’m just teasing you. See you tomorrow, Ree-koo.” Sora spoke, and Riku started down Sora’s steps and towards his own house, looking back to wave. Sora gave him a wave back with a smile, and headed back into the house, windchimes moving after him.

      Riku smiled gently before starting towards his house, trying to not leap for joy (as best as he could, anyway) at today’s happenings.


	5. A Date and the Shortest Chapter--I Am So Sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm serious. This chapter is really short. I promise the next chapter is a lot longer. Pinkie promise.

      “So what you’re telling me is that you’ve got...a date tonight?”   
      “Yes, Dad. I have an actual date.”  
      “What about your ankle?!”  
      “I’m walking on it, aren’t I?”

      Riku, who was packing away his wallet, house keys, and phone into his pocket, was currently trying to get to My Fair Lady. He had basically promised Sora that he would meet him there that day, and a good night’s sleep had cured Riku’s ankle to the proper way that it used to be. Sora’s magic really was strong, apparently.

      “It may not be properly healed though....” Riku’s father spoke. Riku himself sighed before turning towards his dad, looking him in the eyes. He tried to give him a comforting smile, hoping that playing pacifist instead of snarky teenager would heighten his chances to go.

      “I’ll be okay, Dad. I promise.” Riku spoke, moving towards the door. He opened it and looked back towards his dad. “Besides, it’s a date with someone who cares about me. If I’m really in pain or in trouble, he’ll take me home.” he concluded. Riku’s dad ran a hand through his hair before slowly nodding.

      “...All right. Just please be careful. I don’t want you getting hurt again.” he spoke, moving towards Riku to give him a pat on the shoulder. “If anything goes wrong, you know to call me, right? Please, don’t hesitate. I can always leave work to come get you.”

      Riku was quite surprised by that remark and was easily caught off-guard, considering that his dad was usually always nose-deep in his microphone headset at his job. “Y-Yeah. Thank you, Dad.” Riku spoke before opening up the door and heading outside. Before he had the time to close the door, his father spoke up in a curious manner.

      “Your ankle cleared up pretty quickly, didn’t it?”

      “Yeah, it sure did. Got to go. See ya!” Riku spoke quickly, closing the door as he rushed down the steps, his face a bright red as he headed down the road. Pulling out his phone’s GPS system, he looked up the store and where it was. Right down by the docks, like Sora had said! Riku made to get there as fast as he could, excited to see the brunet boy.

      The walk to My Fair Lady was about twenty minutes away, but to Riku, it felt like forever. Despite the long walk, though, Riku had to stop for a few minutes to take in the scenery of the pier. While walking, Riku looked at the boats for a little bit that were parked in the dock, and he had no issue intaking the smell of the Pacific. Riku even paused to look at the water for a few seconds before walking on. People walked past with their dogs, talking on phones, but Riku wasn’t paying attention to these people. These people bored Riku—no one was as interesting as Sora right now.

      As Riku walked up to the store, he looked it over. A small store with two stories, made entirely of what looked like aged wood and covered in wall-creeping flowers that Riku didn’t know the name of. A sign hung above the door—it was also wooden, hanging via chains, and was in the shape of a cauldron and a wand. A metal pentacle was attached to the side of it, and in big swirly fancy font was “My Fair Lady” written on it.

      Riku had a quick peek into the big three-pane window in the front of the shop, and saw behind all of the window accessories, Sora, sitting on a wooden stool and reading a magazine. He had rock candy in his mouth, which Sora bit on absentmindedly.

      Riku took a deep breath. _Don’t let the cute stop you from talking. Just go in, dang it!_

      Riku walked into the store. As he did, a bell chimed (along with his nose being blasted by the smell of incense and essential oils), and he looked right towards Sora, who glanced up from his magazine to say hi to the customer. Sora went from a friendly customer service smile to a much bigger, over exuberant smile when he saw who had walked in. “Rikuuuuu!” Sora sung, leaping off of his chair and out from behind the counter, leaping across the floor towards Riku, and leaping onto the taller man for a hug.

      Riku stumbled back slightly before wrapping an arm around Sora, hugging him back as well once he stabilized. “Soraaaaa.” he sung back, letting Sora pull away. “So this is where you work, huh?” Riku asked, looking around in curiosity. Riku had never been in a metaphysical shop before, and was quite interested in what was in one.

      Stones. Lots of stones. There were actually baskets on a shelf which were just filled with all types of stones. Riku could even pick some simple ones out like rose quartz and aquamarine. There was a big section for books, and tarot cards as well. There were holders that lined the wall that were holding tons of incense sticks, and more shelves devoted to essential oils. Wait, was one of these oils called “Dragon’s Blood”? That was pretty cool, actually.

      Sora watched Riku look around before grabbing onto Riku’s hand. He pulled Riku over towards a tucked away area of the room, which had a spiral staircase. How had Riku not noticed that? “Axeeeel! I want you to meet my friend!”

      Axel? Who was Axel? Riku stood there, shuffling awkwardly as he waited for whoever Sora was calling to come down. When he did walk down, Riku had to absorb the other in. This man looked a _lot_ like a stereotypical witch. Axel was dressed in a multitude of red and gold robes, holding the bottom in his hand as he walked down the stairs. They weren’t monk robes or anything, but they didn’t look like something that someone would wear out on the streets...at least in the modern day! Maybe at a Renaissance Fair, perhaps.

      The only thing that should have seemed out of place but didn’t was his hair color, which was dyed the brightest shade of red that one could probably find anywhere. His hair almost looked fake it was just that bright.

      The man stood down at the bottom of the stairs, laughing towards Sora. “I told you, you have permission to call me my real name. Axel is just the name that I use for my rituals.” The man that was maybe Axel spoke. He looked towards Riku before extending a hand. “My name is Lea. You’re free to call me that.”

      Riku reached forward and shook Lea’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Lea. I’m Sora’s newfound friend.”

      “This is the guy that tripped over a root in my backyard!” Sora exclaimed, sounding quite excited about Riku’s illegal activities. Riku deflated before hearing Lea laugh.

      “So you’re the one that snuck into his yard, yes? I was told about you via text message.” Lea laughed, and Riku grumbled quietly to himself. Of course Sora would tell everyone about a guy who tripped into his yard being illegal. Who wouldn’t? Riku would instantly tell his dad or Hayner or anyone, really, that some guy was in their backyard and had tripped over a tree root.

      (While his dad would freak out about it, Hayner would probably come offer to beat the guy’s nose in.)

      “Um...yeah. I’m the guy that tripped over a tree root.” Riku mumbled, looking towards Sora with narrowed eyes. Sora’s smile fell, and instantly, Riku’s stomach clenched and he smiled back towards the brunet, showing he was joking. Sora’s smile slowly came back before he looked towards Lea once more.

      He moved back towards the wooden stool, sitting down. “Sorry to bother you, Axel. I’m just really happy to show you my friend.” Sora laughed and Lea rolled his eyes with a smile before walking back and rubbing Sora’s hair. Riku’s mind instantly jumped to a brotherly relationship between these two.

      “Call me Lea. I’ve told you that for years, now.”  
      “But Axel is much cooler than Leeeeeea.”

      Lea gave Sora a playful push before starting back towards the stairs. Lea looked towards Riku, and he stood up straighter, almost. Those green eyes were really penetrating. Were those contacts? “I live upstairs. If you need anything, just head up those stairs and knock on my door, okay?”

      Riku nodded before watching the other walk back up the stairs slowly, trying to not trip on his robes. He moved back towards Sora, leaning on the counter across from him. “Is he like you? You know...an actual witch?” Riku asked in a whisper, and Sora smiled.

      “Hey, Axel!”  
      “Lea!”  
      “Are you like me? You know, _like me_ like me?”

      Lea, at the top of the stairs, bent down to get a view of both boys. He smirked before snapping his fingers. Riku’s breath almost came to a dead halt when he saw a flame ignite at the tip of Lea’s thumb. “Dunno. Am I?” Lea spoke smartly before winking and waving, making a grand exit. Once the door closed, Riku slumped down to rest his forehead on the glass countertop.

      “I have so many questions.”  
      “I have so many answers.”  
      “What’s a witch name?”  
      "That's the first question you're going to ask me?"   
      "I'm starting off easy before we get onto the harder stuff."

      “A witch name is a name that one picks out for rituals. For example, mine is Sky. I went for the English translation of my name. Lea went for Axel because he’s edgy, and the other guy that works here is a new witch that just figured out he’s just like Axel and I, so he hasn’t picked a name out yet.”

      Riku registered that before looking down in thought. “So now I have more questions. Why do you call him Axel instead of Lea?” Sora asked. Sora snickered before biting into his rock candy that he had picked up off of the wrapper it must have come in.

      “Well, I call him it for a few reasons. One, it’s fun to watch him get playfully annoyed. He doesn’t actually mind it; and two, I see it as a form of respect, especially since he’s an elder witch and has been practicing for years longer than I have been. He’s twenty-three.” Sora replied. Riku nodded at that answer before asking another question.

      “Okay so...you said that one of your...coworkers? He didn’t have a witch name because he just found out he was a witch. Why wouldn’t he know he was a witch?”  
      “A lot of witches actually have families that just don’t tell them. See, names and knowledge are power to witches. However, if one’s magic is repressed since childbirth, or they’re told nothing about their abilities, many don’t figure it out until other witches tell them.”

      Riku blinked before moving over towards an empty part of the wall, sitting against it. He sighed before lifting up his finger. “One more question.”

      “Yeeees?”  
      “How could he just summon fire to his hand without an issue such as burning?”

      Sora looked towards Riku with a cheeky smile. “Well, my dear sweet summer child... _all_ witches have a small power that’s unique and requires no effort or energy to use.” he spoke, taking a sharp bite of his candy for the first time since Riku had actually shown up.

      Riku’s eyes widened. “Wait, what?” That was the first time Riku had heard about that. Sora swallowed his candy before placing it down on its wrapper and speaking.

      “Every witch has something about them that is...very, very...magical. For example, my mom can talk to animals. She’s the only other person that can actually speak to my cat, and can hear Mixer reply. My dad had self-enhancement. He can make himself stronger in only one area of his body—for example, he can make his muscles stronger, causing him to carry things easier. That’s usually what he uses it for, anyway.”

      Riku registered Sora’s words carefully before swallowing. “...You?” he asked, palms sweating. This was...a lot to process and pick up right away! But Riku wanted to know more...he wanted to know so much more! This was amazing, and such a difference from his dull life of tutoring! Sora smiled in reply to Riku, laughing.

      “I can control light.”

      Riku took a deep breath. In only the short span of three days was Riku thrown into the realm of witchcraft, and he was trying to hard to process anything, but figuring out his crush was just so...magical and amazing...it really made Riku’s head spin. “Light. You control light.”

      “Yeah! I can make light show up out of nowhere, see?”

      Riku slowly looked up towards Sora, and his eyes went fuzzy from what he was seeing. There was a literal ball of light in Sora’s hand. “Oh my God.” Riku monotoned, trying to process what was happening.

      Sora vanished the ball of light before standing up and exiting the counter. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked, moving to kneel in front of Riku, who had only just realized that he was breathing shallowly. Riku nodded slowly.

      “It’s a lot to process, Sora. I...my entire family is boring and...nothing interesting ever happens. My life is boring, my dad’s life is boring, and everything is just...I know of a world where there is no magic. Literally none. It’s like being thrown into a comic book where suddenly people can shoot lasers out of their eyes or can teleport to alternate dimensions. I’m not used to all of this, Sora.” Riku blabbed, which was rare for him. Even Sora’s eyes had widened at it.

      Sora slowly nodded before sitting in front of Riku, placing a hand on his knee. “You know...it was a lot for Demyx to take in too...and he actually is a witch. He’s the other coworker, and he only found out he’s a witch a few months ago. Guy’s twenty, I think? Laid-back, chill on a lot of things. Even he freaked out...and then broke the plumbing because he can control water.”

      “What are you trying to get at here, Sora?”  
      “You’re not alone in freaking out about stuff like this. Everyone does. You’re doing a lot better than anyone would. Most people would have run by now...a lot do. It’s why I don’t have a lot of friends, and most of my friends are other witches like me! But...this isn’t about me.”

      Sora patted Riku’s knee again before standing up. “Do you wanna take a walk on the pier? Just the two of us, like a date? I think the fresh air will do you good.”

      Riku nodded before slowly standing up. He didn’t speak. He couldn’t. The forefront of his mind was still reeling. Superhero powers were now a thing. The back of his mind was also going haywire because _did Sora just ask to go on a small date with him?_

      “A date?”  
      “Yeah, a date. Like this was! You know, in reference to yesterday.”

      Oh yeah, that had happened, hadn’t it? Riku gave a small nod before chuckling awkwardly. “Right. Sorry. Of course.” he apologized before starting towards the door. Sora moved to the bottom of the stairs before yelling up towards Lea.

      “Hey, Leeea? I have to take Riku out. He needs air!” A few moments of silence from up above before three knocks on Lea’s door, seeming to let Sora know that it was all right. “Okay, let’s go!” Sora spoke, opening up the door for Riku so the other didn’t have to. Riku walked first and Sora followed, closing the door behind the both of them, the bell still jingling and ringing in Riku’s ear.


	6. A Bad Interruption and A Learning Of Something New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! A longer chapter! I hope you all enjoy!

      Sora moved onto a small beachy area, chuckling to himself as he splashed in the waves. Riku watched from his spot on the beach, a small smile graced his lips as he watched the other seem to dance and twirl within the surf. Neither of them spoke to each other, but to the both of them, that didn’t seem to matter. It was, of course, Sora who finally spoke up first, walking out of the waves. He sat next to Riku, looking out towards the horizon. “Are you feeling a little bit better?” Sora asked, and Riku gave a nod, along with a deep breath of air in hopes to try and relax himself before speaking.

      “Sorry for...what I can only assume was a very low-key panic attack.” Riku mumbled, and Sora shrugged before speaking right after him.

      “You have nothing to worry about, Riku. You did what everyone else would have done, anyway.” Sora spoke, and Riku looked towards Sora, almost offended; it wasn’t Sora that he was offended that, though. He was offended at himself. He blinked a few times before looking down. Riku acted like everyone else who had seen Sora’s powers...someone who wasn’t a witch. Riku was about to speak up before Sora halted him. “However, you did the one thing that no one else has done.”

      “What’s that?”  
      “Stay.”

      Riku blinked in surprise, and Sora looked towards Riku, chuckling. “You see, you actually stayed. Sure, maybe you freaked out over the powers and stuff like that, but you also stayed. You didn’t run out of the building, you didn’t threaten to call the cops or the CIA...or  even the FBI...you know, you were very cool about it all, despite your small freak out.” Sora spoke, and Riku thought about that. Had everyone else really run from Sora before? Who would run from him? Sora was as harmless as a bumblebee that just bumped into things awkwardly, trying to get from one place to another.

      “Well, to be fair, you didn’t call the cops on _me_ , so....” Riku spoke, and Sora looked towards him, laughing at that statement. Sora gently shouldered the other. “I’ve got to thank you for that; along with the ankle, which is doing a lot better.” he added, pulling up his pant leg to show the other that yes, in fact, his ankle was doing so much better. Sora clapped once when he saw how good it actually looked.

      “And you can walk on it?”  
      “Pretty much. Still aches, but it aches in a similar way as if I gently hit it against a coffee table leg.”

      Sora snickered into his hand at that before standing up, stretching. He looked down towards Riku, offering a hand towards him. Riku reached up and grabbed onto that hand, starting to lead the other back towards the shop. “I can’t leave for long, because I’m pretty sure Lea is enchanting stuff so the store isn’t being run. I’m not even sure if I flipped over the sign to closed, so let’s get there a little bit faster than how we got here, okay?” Sora suggested. Riku nodded and followed after him.

      They walked in silence, just enjoying the sights as they walked along. Riku noticed that people would stare at them sometimes, so he slunk a little bit closer to Sora, giving them a wary eye. “You had mentioned that there was a bad witch around here, right?” Riku asked, and Sora spun towards him, placing a finger to his lips.

      “Shh! Who knows where they are? Come on.” Sora spoke, starting to pull Riku along faster. It was then that he noticed that they had been holding hands since the beach. Despite the small fear that Sora had just etched into Riku’s brain, a flush crept up onto his cheeks. Once they got into My Fair Lady, Sora let go of Riku’s hand, and Riku looked towards his hand, blinking a few times before looking back up towards Sora, biting his lower lip. Sora moved to sit on his stool, looking back towards Riku.

      “We shouldn’t be talking about him outside. In fact, it’s an awful thing to do. I don’t want to do anything that could grab his attention.” Sora spoke, and Riku nodded before sighing, moving to lean against the nearby wall. “Anyway...we’re safe here, I suppose. This place is also protected. Why did you bring him up?” Sora asked, and Riku shrugged.

      “I noticed a lot of people were staring at us so I just...thought that maybe he was in the area?” Riku asked. He wasn’t sure if this guy had people spying for him, or getting people to do his dirty work for him. Riku was always more cautious than most of his friends, so there wasn’t much of a surprise for him to worry about Sora’s safety. Sora blinked before shaking his head.

      “I don’t think he’s too close...but it’s hard to tell. His presence is getting stronger overall....” Sora whispered, looking down towards the magazine he had on the glass counter. “So we do worry a little bit, I suppose.”

      Riku’s memory perked up, and to try and impress Sora, he decided to use some vocabulary he had learned while investigating on the internet about witches. “So, is he solitary or does he work in a coven?”

      Sora’s head shot up at that, his eyes clearly reading a shocked expression on his face. Riku gave a mental ‘whoop!’ in happiness that he had managed to get Sora’s attention by doing that. Sora looked down towards his magazine, trying to hide a smile. Riku could see it, though, and he smiled towards Sora, biting on his lower lip to avoid the giggle that was threatening to come out of his lips. That giggle was stopped when Riku realized that he was _about_ to giggle. Riku didn’t _giggle!_

      “Well...we think he works alone. We don’t know. We’ve actually never properly seen him. We’ve seen silhouettes though, you know? He’s got really bad posture, and we actually thinks he’s ancient.” Sora spoke, sighing as he looked over an article from the magazine in front of him. It was clear that Sora wasn’t wanting to talk about it, but if it was a danger, Riku had to know about it! He was willing to protect his friends from people such as this nasty witch, even if he couldn’t do anything. Maybe if Riku saw this guy, he could move his friends away from him.

      “Can you tell me more about him?” Riku asked, and Sora looked up, an eyebrow raised. He looked back down, shaking his head.

      “Riku, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Sora spoke, and Riku’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t like not being told things, and now even Sora wasn’t telling him everything. Sora, the one who was willing to sit down and confess how lonely he was, and how upset he was about not being with someone, and wanting someone to love, wasn’t telling him something. That seemed too odd to Riku, that he felt like he had to dig deeper, despite Sora not wanting to say anything.

      “Sora, I want to help protect you from this guy.” Riku spoke softly, standing up and starting towards the counter. Sora sighed and rolled his eyes, giving Riku an actual shock. He had never seen Sora look so agitated before.

      “I told you, I don’t want to talk about it. Besides, what could you do? You don’t have powers.” Sora spoke, sighing to himself. “There’s noth...you just can’t help, all right?” he muttered, looking down towards the magazine once more. Riku ran his hands through his hair, realizing that he was starting to act a lot like his father. Riku looked out the window, starting to watch the sun dip in the sky. He looked back towards Sora, who hadn’t looked back up at him.

      “What time are you closing?”  
      “I’m closing at tenish. Why?”  
      “I wanna come pick you up.”

      Sora snorted out of his nose, looking off to the side. His face was a gentle pink, and Riku couldn’t help but smile at that. Despite that though, Sora gave him an answer that he didn’t think would be given. “I don’t want you walking out at night. This guy controls darkness, and it’s a perfect time to kill someone with his powers. Stay indoors, okay? You really can’t protect yourself from someone like him.” Sora replied, and Riku looked down. That hurt, but what Sora said was true...at least, some parts sounded true. What was that part about killing, again?

      “Is he really killing people?” Riku asked, and Sora grumbled before placing the palm of his hand to his forehead in annoyance--at Riku or himself, Riku wasn’t sure. His wondering was answered a few minutes later.

      “This is why I don’t talk about it. I didn’t want to scare you.” There was silent before taking a deep breath. “...Yes, he’s killing people. Have you heard about the missing persons that have been going on recently?” Sora asked, and Riku shook his head. Riku didn’t watch the news, mostly because it was all just sad stuff--nothing good was ever on the news anymore. Another shooting, someone else dead...and apparently, Riku was right, given that mentions of people dying were on the news.

      Sora closed his magazine (finally!) and then leaned on the counter to look towards Riku. “They’re not missing, they’re killed. That’s what this guy does. I’ve seen his work before...well, more like, my Book of Shadows has. It’s told me all about him, and how he kills. This is his M.O..

      “This guy likes to take what are called ‘vessels’. He wants to live forever, see, and this form, this vessel he’s taken from such a long, long time ago, is getting old now. He’s looking for someone new, and that’s why he’s killing everyone. He’s probably putting himself inside someone, seeing if they can handle it, and they can’t, so they die. Sadly, he doesn’t die with that body. His spirit just goes back into this old body he has...and we think he’s getting desperate.” Sora finally explained. Riku took a deep breath, sighing to himself.

      “Wow...that’s a lot.” Riku mumbled, and Sora nodded.

      “Exactly. It’s why I didn’t tell you.” Sora spoke up, clearing his throat and going back to looking around as if this man would pop out of nowhere. Riku slinked towards the counter, leaning towards Sora, so close that he could easily smell the pure sugar on his breath from the rock candy. Sora looked up, eyes wide. “Is there...something that you need?” he asked, and Riku nodded.

      “What’s his name?” Riku asked, and Sora looked around before leaning closer, causing Riku to flush like some stupid teenager. He really had to knock that off.

      “His name is Xehanort.”

      Almost as if they spoke his name, suddenly, the air turned cold, and Riku obtained goosebumps on his arms. “Xehanort, huh...?” Riku mumbled, and Sora nodded. Both boys backed up from each other, looking towards each other before clearing their throats and looking around for something else to pay attention to.

      The brunet didn’t speak up, but did look outside the window. The sun was starting to set, and he was nervous about going out late at night, now. “When should I head home, then, do you think?” Riku asked, and Sora looked out towards the window before shrugging.

      “I’m not actually sure...but hurry home when you can. I don’t want you getting in serious trouble...I don’t want you dead.” Sora whispered, opening his magazine back up. Riku looked outside still, sighing to himself before moving back to his portion of the wall that he had been leaning against.

      “I’m not that hard to kill, you know.” Riku bragged in a tease, flexing playfully, and Sora looked up and rolled his eyes, a smile still plastered upon his face.

      “Yeah yeah, all right.” Sora spoke, chuckling before looking back to his magazine. “Just be safe ‘Mister No Kill’.” he spoke up, looking towards Riku with a chuckle before looking back towards the article he was reading. Riku hummed before standing up and starting towards Sora, going behind the counter quickly to give Sora a hug goodbye. Sora scooted around on the chair to hug the other, breathing slowly. “Please, please be safe.” he whispered. Riku pulled back and ruffled Sora’s hair.

      “I’ll be alright. You’re overreacting.” Riku laughed, and Sora gave an unamused look towards Riku, but in the end, he smiled anyway. “There we are--there’s the smile.” he spoke, placing both hands upon his hips. Sora rolled his eyes playfully this time before nodding up towards the door.

      “Git outta here.” he teased, and Riku gave a quick wave before exiting the building. Riku looked up towards the sun, sighing to himself. Ah, crap, it was really bad out tonight, huh? Riku moved quickly, getting ready to practically run home. Sora did kinda scare him a little bit with the talk of Xehanort and what he could do, and what he was doing. Dang it...it was almost like telling a child the story of Slenderman, only for Slenderman to be real...and old...real old.

      The sun always seemed to move faster as it was setting, Riku noticed. He stood by the pier, watching the sun continue to set over the horizon. The clouds were the most beautiful color, decorated pink and orange, and the sky was turning a light purple. “Wow....” Riku whispered to himself, huffing in surprise over how beautiful it was as he turned and kept on walking.

      If someone like Xehanort would be out tonight, it was probably for the best that Riku took the shortcuts, to avoid the main routes. Xehanort would take the main routes, right? Most adult people didn’t take shortcuts—at least, not around here. There weren’t many of them after all that were proper for adults. They were either too small or too narrow. Riku moved towards one that was through a forest and near a shopping center, one that teens took. After all, Xehanort would be looking for adults.

      While walking up a hill, Riku made a sharp left and started through the foot-trodden path, created by groups of teens walking through the forest. Riku’s entire body grew chills as he walked through, sighing to himself. _You’re safe, and you’re fine. Xehanort wouldn’t be in these woods. Teens go through here. Heck, I’ve been through here with Hayner and Pence and Olette and everyone else. I’m fine. I know how to walk through here because of our hangouts, after all._ Riku thought to himself, trying to calm himself down.

      Sora had really managed to give him a startle. He kinda hoped that Sora’s Book of Shadows had been wrong, but everything else told him otherwise. Opening up his phone to use the flashlight on it, now that it was getting to be pitch black, Riku used it to pay attention to the path. Once he saw lights up ahead, he smiled before rushing towards the edge of the patch of forest. This was where the shopping center was! Riku rushed up there, and suddenly, his entire body froze.

      The pathway came out behind the shopping center, where all of the trucks would unload, but what Riku saw wasn’t the unloading trucks...but God did he wish it were those trucks. Instead, standing there, was a man, holding up someone against the wall and choking someone. The man choking someone was covered in what looked to be a dark cloak, head covered and everything. The poor victim was whimpering, grasping at the strangler’s hand, trying to get him to stop. He turned off his flashlight quickly, not wanting to be spotted. Riku slowly brought his phone up to take a photo of the situation that was happening, but of course, when Riku had been planning to take photos last with his phone, it had been at night when he snuck into Sora’s back yard.

      The flash was on, and burst through the night with such an intensity. It startled Riku, the man, and the victim. Riku took a step back as the man who was doing the choking looked towards him. _Crap crap crap!_ Riku thought to himself again, panicking. It was then that a voice spoke up, a dark laugh, sounding hoarse.

      “You are perfect.” he whispered, and he dropped the victim, who was gasping for air, trying to claw it back into his lungs. Riku was...perfect? Perfect for what? His next victim, probably. Riku kept on taking steps back, trying to avoid getting himself hurt. “You have darkness in you, too.” the man spoke, and Riku froze at that. Darkness inside of him? No way, Riku was a good guy, he wasn’t like...wait a moment.

      “Xehanort...?” Riku whispered, and the eyes under the hood glowed.

      “You’ve heard of me, boy. You must know a witch.” he spoke, his hand curling upwards into a claw, a dark aura radiating from him that Riku hadn’t seen before. “Or be one yourself.” Xehanort added, a smirk crawling onto his lips. Riku shook his head.

      “No, I’m not a witch, but I do know about you.” Riku spoke, taking a step back. The other was luring him back into the forest, where there was leagues more darkness there. That wasn’t good at all. Riku took deep breaths, trying to not panic. He was sure the other could feel his heart rate increasing. “You’ve been killing people to stay alive.” Riku huffed, hoping the other would monologue. Didn’t evil people do that?

      Xehanort laughed once more. “Correct again, boy. The darkness inside of you will be good enough to hold onto me and all of my power.” he replied. Yup, desperate. Sora had been right. Riku hoped for Sora to be here, but he had a feeling that Sora wouldn’t know anything about Riku’s whereabouts. He wished he had gone home earlier.

      “I don’t have any darkness in me! I’m not like you.” Riku spoke, glancing towards Xehanort’s hand which was still growing an aura.

      “You are _everything_ like me.” Xehanort replied, pulling his hand back and aiming the ball of dark aura towards him. Riku didn’t have time to dodge--it came speeding at him too fast. He went flying back, crying out as he smacked against a tree, slumping down to the bottom of it and gasping. He looked towards his arms, which he had used to brace himself from the front. They looked singed, burned slightly.

      Riku slowly stood back up, leaning against the tree. “Sora....” he whispered, hoping the other could somehow hear him from where he was. But no, Sora was still at work, he was closing tonight, and Riku wasn’t right next to Sora, anyway. “I’m so sorry.” Riku added. He wanted to apologize to Sora about everything he had said. He had said that he could fight against Xehanort. He had been wrong. “I’m so, so sorry. Please forgive me.”

      Another ball of dark aura came towards him, and Riku braced for this hit. He heard something running towards him from the side, but didn’t look towards it. Instead, his eyes were closed tight, against his wrists. But this time, nothing hit. There was a grunt next to him, and an arm wrapped around him. Riku peeked an eye open, and he looked towards who could have made that noise. “Sora?” he asked, but no, his vision righted itself and he saw...his father. His hand was held out forward, teeth gritted. Riku looked forward towards Xehanort, and saw him through...what looked like a bubble of sorts.

      Riku looked towards his father, his jaw open. “Dad...?” he whispered, and his father looked towards Riku before dropping the shield. Xehanort grit his teeth. “You’re a witch?” Riku spoke, as if he couldn’t believe any of it. His father had been so...boring! There were no signs of it.

      “A family of witches, hm? I can see how you were so strong, full of darkness.”

      “Riku, get out of here!” his father spoke, pushing him down the path. Riku halted for a few seconds before doing just that, looking back a few times to keep an eye on his father. His father followed behind him. Xehanort didn’t follow, thank God. “Get home, now!” his father yelled. Riku got towards the exit of the woods, looking back towards his father. His father stopped before panting, gasping for air. “We have to...keep going. Come on, let’s get you back home.”

      Riku looked towards his dad...his old, aging father, gasping, crunched over...a witch. “I...I know a better place to get to.” Riku whispered, moving slowly to help support his dad as he started back down port. Their house wasn’t safe...but being surrounded by other witches would probably be the smarter idea.


End file.
